The Penny Savings Bank, founded by Reverend William Reuben Pettiford in Birmingham in 1890, was the first black-owned and black-operated financial institution in Alabama. The bank later established branches in [more]

Pope’s Tavern was a historic inn and stagecoach stop stretching back to Alabama’s territorial period, located in present-day downtown Florence. Archeological evidence suggests that the first building burned at some [more]

Tuskegee University is the second-oldest historically black college in Alabama and one of the largest in the United States. Founded in 1881 as the Normal School for Colored Teachers at [more]

Senator, statesman, and U.S. Vice President William Rufus King of Dallas County served in the U.S. Senate for more than 30 years. In 1852, King was elected vice president on [more]

Originally designated as a postal route in 1806, the old Federal Road stretched through the Creek Indian territory of lower Alabama. Alabama’s Federal Road functioned as a major thoroughfare for [more]

Moundville Archaeological Park contains the remains of one of the largest prehistoric Native American settlements in the United States. Founded around 1120, Moundville was located on the banks of the [more]

Launched in retaliation for the attack on Creek warriors by territorial militia at Burnt Corn Creek, on August 30, 1813, a force of about 700 Creek Indians destroyed Fort Mims [more]

Most of Alabama escaped the ravages of the Civil War until Union General James H. Wilson’s raid in spring of 1865. Within weeks, Wilson captured prisoners, destroyed four major industrial [more]

Tuscaloosa became the second Alabama state capital in 1826, when the state legislature voted to move the seat of government from Cahaba. The city served as the capital until 1846, [more]

“Alabama Fever,” was a term used to describe the frenzy for land claims in what was then the Mississippi Territory in the wake of land cessions by the Creek Indians. [more]