HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT ALABAMA

ALABAMA STATE FLAG & ITS HISTORY




The state did not have a flag from 1819 to January 11, 1861, when a resolution was passed designating a flag designed by a group of Montgomery women as the "Republic of Alabama Flag." The present Alabama State Flag was authorized by the Alabama Legislature on February 16, 1895, by Act number 383. According to the Acts of Alabama, 1895, the state flag was to be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross were not to be less than six inches broad and were to extend diagonally across the flag from side to side. The act did not designate a square or a rectangular flag. The St. Andrew's Cross resembles the letter "X" in the English alphabet and is also referred to as the "saltier" or "Crux Decussata."

According to tradition, Andrew, the brother of Peter, was crucified on a cross of this shape. Andrew did not feel worthy enough to die on the same style of cross on which Christ died and requested a cross of another shape. His request was granted and he was crucified upside down on a cross which now bears his name. Rather than using nails to secure his limbs to the cross, Andrew was bound to the cross with ropes. His suffering was thus prolonged. St. Andrew's Cross came into wide use during the Medieval Period and became the national cross of Scotland, since St. Andrew was the patron saint of Scotland.
Alabama's Past Flags

On January 11, 1861, the Secession Convention passed a resolution designating a flag designed by a group of Montgomery women as their official flag. This flag has often been referred to as the Republic of Alabama Flag. One side of the flag displayed the Goddess of Liberty holding in her right hand an unsheathed sword; in the left a small flag with one star. In an arch above this figure were the words "Independent Now and Forever." On the other side of the flag was a cotton plant with a coiled rattlesnake. Beneath the cotton plant are the Latin words: "Noli Me Tangere," (Touch Me Not). This flag was flown until February 10, 1861, when it was removed to the Governor's Office after it was damaged by severe weather. It was never flown again.

From March 4, 1861 until General James H. Wilson's occupation of Montgomery in April 1865, a Confederate National Flag was flown, either the First National Flag or the Second National Flag. After the end of the Civil War, from April 1865 until 1895, the State of Alabama flew the United States Flag during all official occasions.

Proper Display

According to the Acts of Alabama, 2001-472: "(a) Each facility of building located in this state that is affiliated with any department or agency of the state and supported in whole or in part by public funds, shall prominently display the Alabama State Flag, in accordance with appropriate flag display protocol, on a flag pole or flag poles located near the main entrance of each facility or building. Any facility or building that is not in public view or open to the general public, or is used only for storage or other warehouse purposes, may be exempt from the requirements of this section at the discretion of the director or chief official of the department or agency.

"(b) Unless otherwise acquired pursuant to gift, donation, or other means, the flags and flag poles required by this section shall be purchased by the applicable department or agency within three years after August 21, 2001."

Under an Act approved September 26, 1923, the flag of the State, as well as the flag of the United States, is required to be displayed every day on which school is in session, at all schools in the State which are supported even in part by public funds. In 2001 the law was expanded to require state flags to be flown at county courthouses, state offices, and municipal buildings.

Salute - Flag of Alabama I salute thee. To thee I pledge my allegiance, my service, and my life.


ALABAMA STATE STATE SONG:


Verse 1:
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee,
From thy Southern shore where groweth,
By the sea thine orange tree.
To thy Northern vale where floweth
Deep and blue thy Tennessee.
Alabama, Alabama
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 2:
Broad the Stream whose name thou bearest;
Grand thy Bigbee rolls along;
Fair thy Coosa-Tallapoosa
Bold thy Warrior, dark and strong.
Goodlier than the land that Moses
Climbed lone Nebo's Mount to see
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 3:
From thy praries broad and fertile,
Where thy snow-white cotton shines.
To the hills where coal and iron
Hide in thy exhaustless mines.
Strong-armed miners--sturdy farmers:
Loyal hearts what'er we be.
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 4:
From the quarries where the marble
White as that of Paros gleams
Waiting till thy sculptor's chisel,
Wake to like thy poet's dream;
For not only wealth of nature,
Wealth of mind hast thou to fee.
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 5:
Where the perfumed south-wind whispers,
Thy magnolia groves among,
Softer than a mother's kisses
Sweeter than a mother's song;
Where the golden jasmine trailing,
Woos the treasure-laden bee,
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 6:
Brave and pure thy men and women,
Better this than corn and wine,
Make us worthy, God in Heaven,
Of this goodly land of Thine;
Hearts as open as our doorways,
Liberal hands and spirits free,
Alabama, Alabama,
We will aye be true to thee!
Verse 7:
Little, little, can I give thee,
Alabama, mother mine;
But that little--hand, brain, spirit,
All I have and am are thine.
Take, O take the gift and giver.
Take and serve thyself with me,
Alabama, Alabama,
I will aye be true to thee.



ALABAMA STATE COAT OF ARMS



The bill to legalize a state coat of arms was introduced in the Alabama Legislature of 1939 by James Simpson, Jefferson County, and was passed without a dissenting vote by both houses. The coat of arms consists of a shield on which appears the emblems of the five governments that have held sovereignty over Alabama. The flags of Spain, France, Great Britain, and the Confederacy are bound by the flag and shield of the United States. This shield is supported on either side by bald eagles, symbolic of courage. The crest is a model of the ship, the Baldine, that Iberville and Bienville sailed from France to settle a colony near present day Mobile (1699). The motto beneath the shield is "Audemus jura nostra defendere." Beneath the motto is the state name.

The original design of the Alabama coat of arms was made in 1923 by B. J. Tieman, New York, an authority on heraldry, at the request of Marie Bankhead Owen, Director of the Department of Archives and History. A few years later Naomi Rabb Winston, Washington, DC, painted the completed design in oil. Mrs. Owen selected the motto which was put into Latin by Professor W.B. Saffold, of the University of Alabama. It was through the influence of Juliet Perry Dixon, wife of Governor Dixon, that official action was taken by the legislature.

The act to adopt an official Coat-of-Arms for the State of Alabama was approved March 14, 1939, Act no. 140.


State Flower of Alabama


Camellia


A bill introduced in the 1927 legislature by Representative T. E. Martin, Montgomery County, making the goldenrod the state flower, became a law on September 6, 1927.

House Bill 24, approved August 26, 1959, amended Section 8, Title 55, of the Code of 1940, to read: "The camellia is hereby designated and named as the state flower of Alabama." (Acts 1959, No. 124.)

In June 1999, the Legislature designated that the camellia, Camellia japonica L., is the official state flower of Alabama.



ALABAMA STATE STATE MOTTO


Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere



"Audemus jura nostra defendere" has been translated as: "We Dare Maintain Our Rights" or "We Dare Defend Our Rights." This Latin phrase is on the state coat of arms completed in 1923.

According to a Birmingham News-Age Herald article by Marie Bankhead Owen (the director of the state Archives) dated April 23, 1939, she came upon the idea while searching for "a phrase that would interpret the spirit of our peoples in a terse and energetic sentence." A part of a poem entitled "What Constitutes a State?" by the 18th-century author Sir William Jones found in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations includes the stanza "Men who their duties know. But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain." The motto was translated into Latin by Professor W. B. Saffold, of the University of Alabama.


ALABAMA STATE MASCOT AND STATE BUTTERFLY


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail



The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail became the state mascot and butterfly in 1989 by Act no. 89-676.

The legislation was requested by the Selma City Council. Selma is designated as the Butterfly Capital of Alabama and the Eastern Swallowtail is its mascot.


ALABAMA STATE NICKNAME


Alabama does not have an official nickname. It is commonly referred to as "the Heart of Dixie" and that phrase has appeared on state automobile license plates since the 1950s, but it is not an official nickname. Alabama has also been known as the cotton state and the yellowhammer state.

In 2002 the phrase "Stars Fell on Alabama" began to appear on license plates. It refers to the night of November 12, 1833, when a fantastic meteor shower seen across the Southeast caused this night to be known as “the night stars fell on Alabama.” The shower created such great excitement across the state that it became a part of Alabama folklore and for years was used to date events. A century later it inspired a song and book.


ALABAMA STATE INSECT


Monarch Butterfly


The Monarch Butterfly (danaus plexipuss), is a native butterfly well-known to Alabama. In 1989 the legislature made the Monarch Butterfly the state insect by Act no. 89-935.


ALABAMA STATE BIRD


Yellowhammer



Family:
Picidae
Scientific name:
Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus)
Correct common name of the American Ornithologists Union:
Northern Flicker
Other names used locally:
Yellowhammer, Flicker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Southern Flicker, Common Flicker.
Description:
The back of the male of the common flicker is a gray-brown color with broken black bars on the body feathers and with the yellow shafts of the flight feathers partly visible. The rump patch is white and the two-pointed tail is mainly black. The crown and back of the neck is gray with a red band at the nape. The cheeks are pinkish-buff with a black "moustache" and bib below the chin on the throat. The underparts are creamy with many, irregular black spots. The undersides of the wings and tail are bright yellow. The female differs from the male in that she does not have the "moustache". Both sexes have gray legs, a dark gray bill and dark brown eyes. The talons are quite sharp. This helps the bird to easily perch on vertical tree trunks.
Distribution:
The common flicker is found throughout Alabama and is present all the months of the year. It is one of the more common woodpeckers. Other races of the flicker are found over all of the North American Continent. The common flicker breeds from the tree line in Canada and Alaska south and eastward. This range lies generally east of the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Some flickers winter along the Canadian border, but the majority migrate southeastward and winter in the United States.
General:
The common flicker is more terrestrial in habit than are other woodpeckers. On the ground, it has an awkward hopping movement, but this does not slow its ground feeding. It is commonly observed feeding on lawns and is, perhaps, the most obvious woodpecker of the city and suburban areas.
Nesting and Reproduction:
The common flicker begins nesting in April and Alabama records show dependent nestlings as late as July. These dates will be later for the more northern breeding latitudes. The female lays 6 to 10 white colored eggs in a cavity of a dead tree, fence post or occasionally some other site including nest boxes, building roofs and earthern banks or cliffs. One egg is layed each day until the clutch is completed. Incubation of the eggs requires about 17 days and the nestlings are ready to fly (or fledge) about 3 weeks to a month after hatching. Both parents take part in the care and feeding of the young.
Food:
Flickers are reported to eat more ants than any other American bird. In addition, they consume most other types of insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars and others. The flicker will also eat many types of vegetative materials including all types of berries, nuts, seeds and fruits. The berries of poison ivy appear to be a favorite.
Life Span:
The relatively large egg clutch indicates a fairly short lived bird. A single band return of just over three years may not be an unreasonable average age. However there is insufficient data to substantiate this as an average life span.
Preadator Agents:
This species of wild bird is subject to predation from owls, hawks and tree climbing snakes. It is also subject to attack by these and mammalian predators when feeding on the ground. However, predation poses no threat to the species.
Management:
As with all song birds, the common flicker is protected by provisions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act entered into by Mexico, Canada and the United States. Feeding habits of the flicker make it reasonably easy to produce food items that are attractive. Production of berries, nuts and seeds will attract other types of birds also. Since this bird will use a nest box for nesting, it lends itself to this phase of management by providing such sites. A box for a flicker should have a 7 x 7 inch floor, be 16 to 18 inches deep and have a 2 1/2 inch diameter entrance located 2 inches from the top. It should be located 6 to 20 feet above ground. The bottom should be covered with wood chips to a depth of 2 inches.
History:
The common flicker is the State Bird of Alabama. Alabama has been known as the "Yellowhammer State" since the Civil War. The yellowhammer nickname was applied to the Confederate soldiers from Alabama when a company of young cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, under the command of Rev. D.C. Kelly, arrived at Hopkinsville, KY, where Gen. Forrest's troops were stationed. The officers and men of the Huntsville company wore fine, new uniforms, whereas the soldiers who had long been on the battlefields were dressed in faded, worn uniforms. On the sleeves, collars and coattails of the new calvary troop were bits of brilliant yellow cloth. As the company rode past Company A , Will Arnett cried out in greeting "Yellowhammer, Yellowhammer, flicker, flicker!" The greeting brought a roar of laughter from the men and from that moment the Huntsville soldiers were spoken of as the "yellowhammer company." The term quickly spread throughout the Confederate Army and all Alabama troops were referred to unofficially as the "Yellowhammers."

When the Confederate Veterans in Alabama were organized they took pride in being referred to as the "Yellowhammers" and wore a yellowhammer feather in their caps or lapels during reunions.

A bill introduced in the 1927 legislature by Representative Thomas E. Martin, Montgomery County, was passed and approved by Governor Bibb Graves on September 6, 1927.