The Alabama State Seal, called the Great Seal, was first designed in 1817 by the governor of the Alabama Territory and later first governor of the state, William Wyatt Bibb. [more]

The Skyline Farms project, established by the federal government in Jackson County in 1934, was one of the more unique socioeconomic experiments in Alabama history. It was one of 43 [more]

Pizitz was a family-owned chain of department stores founded in 1899 in Birmingham by Russian immigrant Louis Pizitz. At its peak, the chain boasted 12 stores, with nine in Birmingham [more]

The Free State of Winston is a popular name given to Civil War-era Winston County, because of the county’s generally pro-Union stance and resistance to Confederate rule. Unionists opposed secession [more]

Gaineswood is an important example of Greek Revival architecture that exemplifies the Black Belt’s significance in Alabama’s economic and cultural history. Once the center of a large plantation, the main [more]

Jo Ann Robinson was perhaps the individual most instrumental in planning and publicizing the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, proposing the idea more than a year before it was implemented. When [more]

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]

In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto first set foot in what is now Alabama. When his troops reached the Mabila tribal capital presided over by Chief Tuskaloosa, an encounter [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]