ALABAMA

constituent state of the United States of America. Admitted as the 22nd state in 1819, Alabama comprises 51,705 square miles (133,915 square kilometres) forming a roughly rectangular shape, elongated in a northsouth direction. Tennessee is the bordering state to the north, Georgia to the east, and Mississippi to the west. The Florida panhandle blocks Alabama's access to the Gulf of Mexico except in the state's southwestern corner, where Mobile Bay is located. Montgomery is the state capital. The state offers much topographical diversity. The rich agricultural valley of the Tennessee River occupies the extreme northern part of the state. In northeastern Alabama the broken terrain of the southern fringe of the Appalachian Highlands begins and continues in a southwesterly progression across the northern half of the state. Below that the band of prairie lowland known as the Black Belt has rich soils that once cradled a rural, cotton-producing way of life central to the state's development. Further south stretch piney woods and then coastal plains until one reaches the striking ranks of azaleas blossoming in the Gulf breezes and the moss-draped live oaks of Mobile. The landscape of Alabama has been the scene of many of the major crises in the settlement of the continent and in the development of the modern nation. It was a battleground for European powers vying for the lands of the New World, for the fights between the white settlers and the Indians, for the struggles between North and South during the Civil War, and for the forces of economic and social change that have extensively altered many aspects of the Deep South in the years since World War II. Although Alabama continues to trail near the bottom of the states in many significant social rankings, there has been improvement in race relations, particularly in school desegregation and in the election of blacks to political offices. The state's economy has also shown marked improvement. Yet Alabamians and outsiders alike tend to agree that the state's troubled heritage is often still apparent. Additional reading Jesse M. Richardson (ed.), Alabama Encyclopedia, vol. 1, Book of Facts (1965), contains comprehensive data on a variety of topics and includes an excellent chronology. Writers' Program (Alabama), Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South (1941, reissued 1973), and a new revised edition with the same title edited by Alyce Billings Walker (1975), provide a semipopular historical account of the political, economic, educational, and cultural life within the state. Donald B. Dodd, Historical Atlas of Alabama (1974); Neal G. Lineback and Charles T. Traylor, Atlas of Alabama (1973); and DeLorme Mapping Company, Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer (1998), are also useful references. Virginia O. Foscue, Place Names in Alabama (1989), combines geography and local history. Early works on society and culture include Carl Carmer, Stars Fell on Alabama (1934, reissued 1985), a report of selected observations and experiences while traveling in Alabama; Clarence Cason, 90 in the Shade (1935, reprinted 1970), observations on Southern people in their physical setting; and Lillian Estelle Worley, Alabama's People (1945), a historical description. Studies of the state's history include Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton, Alabama (1977, reissued 1984), a brief synthesis including more recent scholarship; Thomas Perkins Abernathy, The Formative Period in Alabama, 18151828, 2nd ed. (1965), the story of Alabama as a part of the Mississippi Territory; J. Mills Thornton III, Politics and Power in a Slave Society: Alabama, 18001860 (1978, reprinted 1981), on the decades leading to the Civil War; Walter L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905, reprinted 1978), which includes an account of the factors leading to the secession of Alabama from the Union in 1861; Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics, 18651881 (1977); and Allen J. Going, Bourbon Democracy in Alabama, 18741890 (1951, reprinted 1972). Historical discussions of race relations are provided in Peter Kolchin, First Freedom: The Response of Alabama's Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction (1972); Robert J. Norrell, Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee (1985); and Dan T. Carter, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South, rev. ed. (1979). Scholarly journal articles on historical topics may be found in The Alabama Review (quarterly). Robert J. Norrell The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica