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Free Traveling Guides » States » Alabama History of Alabama
The major groups of Native American people, who first inhabited the area of the present-day Alabama, include Alabama, Choctaw, Mobile, Creek, Koasati, Chickasaw, and Cherokee. With the establishment of Mobile in 1702, the first European settlement was founded by the French. Southern Alabama was French until 1763, after which it became a part of British West Florida. In 1780, southern Alabama became a part of Spanish west Florida and remained so until 1814. Central and Northern Alabama were a part of British Georgia until 1783, after which they became a part of the American Mississippi territory. Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd U. S. State, in 1819. However, in 1861, the state seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. Alabama played an integral role in the American Civil War by contributing over 120, 000 soldiers. Most of the slaves were freed by 1865. After the Civil War, in 1868, the state of Alabama was readmitted to the Union. A major turning point in the history of the State was the Great Migration, which led to a rapid decrease in the population of the state in the early 20th century. Agricultural depression, racial discrimination, and failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation forced tens of thousands of African Americans to leave the Alabama Black Belt and seek out other opportunities in industrial cities like Chicago, New York, and Detroit. The state continued as one-party Democratic fro several years owing to the long disfranchisement of the African Americans. World War II finally brought prosperity to the state. Many whites in the state opposed integration efforts in the 1960s, during the term of Governor George Wallace. However, the African Americans gained a restoration of voting and other civil rights through the passage of the national Civil Rights Laws of 1964 and 1965. The voting pattern of the state shifted to the Republican Party in presidential elections after 1972. The state has voted increasingly Republican in state elections since 1990.
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