Ethan’s Alabama History Report

1. Ethan’s Alabama History Report

2. Alabama History Report By: Ethan P. January 4, 2012 4th grade

3. Table of Contents Page 1 My favorite thing about Alabama Page 2 Alabama Page 3 Cherokee Indians Page 4 CondoleezzaRice Page 5 First verse of Alabama’s State song Page 6 State Flag Page 7 State Seal Page 8 State Tree Page 9 State Bird Page 10 State Flower Page 11 State Fish Page 12 Coat of Arms Page 13Governor Robert J. Bentley Page 14 President Barack Obama Page 15 -20 Alabama Happenings Page 21 -25 Alabama Attractions Page 26 About the Author

4. My Favorite Thing About Alabama My favorite thing about Alabama is Landmark park. The park features natural areas, boardwalks and even a planetarium, but its real highlight is an astounding collection of historic structures assembled from around the Wiregrass. There is a century old drug-store with a working soda fountain, a general store, a one-room school, a historic church and a working farm where visitors can see what agriculture was like in the early days in this region. Built around the historic Waddell House, long a landmark in Dothan, the living history farm features crops, gardens and livestock as well as a variety of original structures including a syrup shed, bard, blacksmith shop and log cabin. A variety of annual events are held at the park. This is why Landmark park is my favorite place in Alabama.

5. Alabama Our state of Alabama is a located in the southern regions of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. The state ranks 23rd in population. Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie." Montgomery is the Capital and the city with the most people is Birmingham. The city with the most land area is Huntsville. The oldest city is Mobile. The state is classified as humid subtropical. The average annual temperature is 64 °F. Temperatures are warmer in the southern part of the state because of being close to the Gulf of Mexico, while the northern part of the state is cooler. Alabama has very hot summers and mild winters. Alabama receives an average of 56 inches of rainfall every year and has a long growing season of up to 300 days in the southern part of the state. Summers in Alabama are among the hottest in the United States. Temperatures averaging over 90 °F in some parts of the state. Alabama is also prone to tropical storms and even hurricanes. Areas of the state far away from the Gulf are effected of the storms because of the amounts of rain as they move inland and weaken. Winters in the state are usually mild, nightly freezing. South Alabama reports many thunderstorms. The Gulf Coast, around Mobile Bay, averages between 70 and 80 days per year with thunder reported. Winters are generally mild in Alabama. Although snow is rare many receive a dusting of snow a few times every winter, with an occasional moderately heavy snowfall every few years. Alabama is located in the middle of the Bible Belt. A majority of people in Alabama today identify as Protestant. The largest religious groups in Alabama are Protestant, Catholic, Southern Baptist, and United Methodist Church. Alabama's agricultural is poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains, vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. Alabama is known as "The Cotton State," and ranks between eighth and tenth in national cotton production. Alabama government follows the Alabama Constitution. It was ratified in 1901. It has almost 800 amendments and 310,000 words and it is the world's longest constitution and is forty times the length of the U.S. Constitution.

6. Cherokee Indians A powerful detached tribe of the Iroquoian family, formerly holding the whole mountain region of the south Alleghenies, in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina and South Carolina, north Georgia, east Tennessee, and northeast Alabama, and claiming even to the Ohio River. The tribal name is a corruption of Tsálăgĭ or Tsárăgĭ, the name by which they commonly called themselves, and which may be derived from the Choctaw chiluk-ki 'cave people', in allusion to the numerous caves in their mountain country. They sometimes also call themselves Ani'-Yûñ′-wiyd', 'real people,' or Anĭ'-Kitu'hwagĭ, 'people of Kituhwa', one of their most important ancient settlements. Their northern kinsmen, the Iroquois, called them Oyata`ge‘ronoñ', 'inhabitants of the cave country' (Hewitt), and the Delawares and connected tribes called them Kittuwa, from the settlement already noted. They seem to be identical with the Rickohockans, who invaded central Virginia in 1658, and with the ancient Talligewi, of Delaware tradition, who were represented to have been driven southward from the upper Ohio River region by the combined forces of the Iroquois and Delawares. The language has three principal dialects: • Elatĭ, or Lower, spoken on the heads of Savannah River, in South Carolina and Georgia; • Middle, spoken chiefly on the waters of Tuckasegee River, in western North Carolina, and now the prevailing dialect on the East Cherokee reservation; • A'tŭli, Mountain or Upper, spoken throughout most of upper Georgia, east Tennessee, and extreme western North Carolina. The lower dialect was the only one which had the r sound, and is now extinct. The upper dialect is that which has been exclusively used in the native literature of the tribe.

7. Cherokee Indians

8. Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, November 14, 1954. Her father was a minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church and her mother was a music teacher. She learned to read music as the age of three. Her name came from the Italian musical term "con dolcezza" that means to play "with sweetness". In 1967, her family moved to Denver when her father took a job at the University of Denver. Mrs. Rice was a gifted student and a great pianist. She entered college at the age of 15 with the intention of becoming a concert pianist. After studying piano, she enrolled at the University of Denver, where her father served as an assistant dean and taught a class called "The Black Experience in America." Her plans changed when she attended a course on international politics. This experience sparked her interest in the Soviet Union and international relations. In 1974, at age 19, Mrs. Rice earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Denver. She worked in the State Department in 1977, during the Carter administration as an intern in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 1981, at age 26, she received her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. In addition to English, she speaks Russian, French, and Spanish. Beginning in 1981, Mrs. Rice served on the faculty at Stanford University as professor of political science winning two prestigious teaching honors. From 1989 through March 1991 (the period of the fall of Berlin wall and the final days of the Soviet Union), she served in the George H. W. Bush administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In this position, she helped develop Bush's and Secretary of State James Baker’spolicies in favor of German reunification. She so impressed Bush that he introduced her to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as the one whom "tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union." During the Clinton administration she returned to Stanford serving a six-year tenure to be responsible for the budget and academic programs. She is the author of several political science books and articles and has served on several corporate boards. During George W. Bush's election campaign in 2000, Mrs. Rice took a one-year leave of absence from Stanford to work as his foreign policy advisor. She was picked to serve as National Security Advison on January 22, 2001 and stepped down from her position at Stanford. She was the first woman to occupy the post.

9. Alabama “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!“ By: Julia Strudwick Tutwiler

10. Alabama State Flag

11. Alabama State Seal

12. Alabama State Tree Long Leaf Pine

13. Alabama State Bird Yellowhammer

14. Alabama State Flower

15. Alabama State Fish Large Mouth Bass

16. Alabama Coat of Arms

17. Governor Robert J. Bentley Bentley is a native of Columbiana, Alabama, in Shelby County. His father was David Harford Bentley, and his mother was Mattie Boyd Vick Bentley, neither of whom completed school past junior high. Bentley grew up in Columbiana, where he was a member of Shelby County High School's 1961 state championship debate team, and he became student body president in his senior year of high school. After graduating from Shelby County High School at the top of his class, Bentley enrolled at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. While at Alabama, Bentley majored in Chemistry and Biology and graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in three years. Bentley joined the United States Air Force in 1969 as a captain. He served as a general medical officer at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He served as an interim hospital commander for 90 days near the end of his tenure. Following his military service, Bentley began a three-year residency at the University of Alabama in dermatology. He then opened his dermatology practice in Tuscaloosa. He founded a number of small businesses, the most successful of which is Alabama Dermatology Associates. In 2002 Bentley was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives from Tuscaloosa County with almost 65% of the vote. In 2006 Bentley ran unopposed for re-election to the State House. During his time in Montgomery he served on the Education Appropriations Committee, the Boards and Commissions Committee, the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, and was a member of the Tuscaloosa County Legislative Delegation. He also serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Internal Affairs Committee.

18. President Barack Obama Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii. The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "as soon as practicable and no later than" January 2010,but during his first two years in office he has been unable to persuade Congress to appropriate funds required to accomplish the shutdown. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions.

19. False Advertising? Angry Hybrid Owner Suing Honda Saying Car Doesn’t Get 51 MPG Heather Peters is taking Honda to small claims court for what she says are the fuel economy shortcomings of her Civic Hybrid. When she originally purchased the vehicle, she did so in the hopes that it would save her money at the gas pump. However, Peters claims that the car does not deliver the advertised 51 miles per gallon (mpg) highway and 46 mpg city fuel efficiency. “Of course I didn’t expect to get exactly [50 mpg], but it never got even close to that,” said Peters in a FOX interview. “On its best day, it was getting 41-42 [mpg]; generally in the high 30’s.” She claims things only got worse from there. “They did a software update that was intended to save the battery so that they didn’t have to pay $3,000 to replace it and now I get 28 or 29 [mpg],” Peters said. Peters, who used to be a former corporate defense lawyer, says that the only people who would be rewarded with the original settlement would be the lawyers who would make millions in fees under the agreement. The actual hybrid owners, the ones who paid thousands over sticker price for the “hybrid premium,” would walk away with nothing but coupons and an instructional DVD. “You’re taking the matter to small claims court. What do hope to accomplish there?” asked the FOX news host. “Well, at first I just wanted some common courtesy. I still am absolutely stunned that Honda has never called me to discuss this,” said Peters to a surprised FOX host. But what’s her ultimate goal? “In small claims court, I can sue for up to $10,000 — it’s very easy.”

20. Court date set in fight over Alabama's immigration law The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals set March 1st to hear oral arguments in the fight over Alabama's immigration law. Attorneys for the state will be in Atlanta defending the law which is being challenged by Obama administration and civil rights advocates In December, the appeals court denied requests by Georgia and Alabama to delay action on legal challenges to their tough new laws targeting illegal immigration pending the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a similar challenge to Arizona's immigration law. The 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals issued orders denying motions filed by the attorneys general of the two states. The Supreme Court said Dec. 12 that it would review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked parts of the Arizona law.Both Georgia and Alabama's laws have been challenged by activist groups, and Alabama's has also been challenged by the Obama administration. Both cases were set for hearings in the federal appeals court early next year.

21. Group marks signing anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation As is tradition in Montgomery, a local group spent the first day of the new year remembering the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and looking to the future, but also calling on people, especially youth, not to forget the powerful stories of the past."It's so very crucial we read the Emancipation Proclamation, just to give us a feel for how far we've come," said Richard Bailey, president of the Emancipation Association of Montgomery.He added it's important to remember that history, see what progress is left to be made and make certain a younger generation understands the past."We want them to be able to understand the progress in the country," he said.The proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, and freed slaves in America, although blacks in Alabama and other parts of the South couldn't observe the signing until the end of the Civil War in 1865.Each year, Bailey's organization chooses a speaker and puts on the program at a different area church so people can remember and reflect on that historic day more than a century ago.The event also is used to recognize outstanding students and other community members. This year Robert James received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Quesha Starks, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School principal, received the Educator of the Year Award. Seniors from local high schools also were recognized.The Emancipation Proclamation Celebration has been held nearly every year since 1866, and this year was at Beulah Baptist Church. This year's featured speaker was G.W.C. Richardson, Hutchinson Missionary Baptist Church pastor."Tell your children your history," Richardson urged the group that gathered Sunday afternoon, adding there's "few of us our left to pass on the story."Richardson, who has participated in marches led by Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Marion and Birmingham, urged parents and grandparents to share their stories.He said today young people can go to school where they want, walk in the front door of a restaurant and eat what they want, and publicly have black and white friends."They think it's always been this way," he said. "They think it's always been that way, but we've got to tell them a story."He added there's still "a long way to go" and progress to be made.His powerful speech had the crowd at Beulah Baptist Church on their feet applauding and cheering.Richardson then shared his own experiences during the civil rights movement, telling the crowd each day he looks at scars and cuts on his body left by the Ku Klux Klan who beat him and left him for dead near a creek."We must tell our young people the story," he said.

22. The drought's grip on the Montgomery area has loose­ned in the past two weeks thanks to beneficial rainfall, but the region will close out the year with a sizable rain­fall deficit and conditions aren't expected to improve through the spring.Forecasts are calling for dry conditions through Sat­urday. So far for the year, the Montgomery area has re­corded 48.75 inches of rain, which is about 4 inches be­low normal. But that figure isn't so bad when you com­pare it with the total amount of rainfall of 38.23 inches for 2010."We're better off than we were two or three months ago," said Albert Jones, who raises cattle in northern Au­tauga County. "We're a lot better off than we were this time last year."The weekly drought moni­tor, a compilation of data from several sources, backs up Jones' statement. In the most recent update, released Thursday, Autauga County is listed as being in a "moder­ate" drought, the fourth worst designation in the five-level rating system. Just two months ago, most of the tri-county area was listed as be­ing in an "extreme" drought, the second worst category.The monitor has most of Elmore and Montgomery counties in severe drought, with the lower one-third of Montgomery County falling in the extreme category.It doesn't look like much help is on the horizon, either. The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook has the drought in the Montgomery area per­sisting or intensifying Janu­ary through March.The months of November through January are the times for the heaviest amounts of rainfall for the Montgomery area, NWS data shows.The January through March outlook has the region expecting higher than nor­mal temperatures and below normal rainfall.That's typical for La Nina conditions, said Jim West­land, a meteorologist with the National Weather Serv­ice's Office in Birmingham.La Nina is where the Pa­cific Ocean surface tempera­tures off the west coast of South America are cooler than normal, he said. The conditions are expected to stay in place at least through early spring, forecasts pre­dict. Year ends with drought persisting

23. Montgomery ban on tobacco use on city property takes effect Jan. 1 If you plan to visit any city-owned property in the new year, you may want to leave one thing at home: your cigarettes.Effective Jan. 1, Montgomery will institute a tobacco-free policy for all city property, facilities and city-owned vehicles. The prohibition includes any and all buildings that are owned, leased or rented, as well as the grounds maintained, parking lots, ramps and contiguous sidewalks.Mayor Todd Strange said many other institutions have adopted a similar policy, including local colleges, and the city is following suit in order to offset health-care costs. Statistics show tobacco users cost the city health plan about $1,500 annually per user, according to information provided by the city."Our goal is to modify behavior," Strange said. "We want to drive down costs, but also keep people healthy."Strange said another goal is to help curb secondhand smoke in public areas.While the ban mainly targets city employees, it also covers personal use as well. Strange said there is not a monetary fine in place for an individual who is smoking on city property, but there is a diplomatic procedure involved."If a person was smoking at a ballpark, for example, we would ask that person to stop," Strange said. "If they didn't stop, we would ask them to leave."If a person does not comply, the police could be called, according to information provided by the city.An individual also cannot smoke in a personal vehicle if it is on city property. While Strange admitted that would be hard to enforce, it is included in the ban, so it would be subject to the same diplomatic procedure.City employees would be subject to the Progressive Disciplinary Policy, a disciplinary action in the same manner as other job performance issues. Continuing violations may also result in suspension or dismissal, the policy states.Strange said the city has about 2,600 employees, and of those, about 1,900 signed a non-smoking affidavit.About 700 did not sign and they have to pay an extra $25 a month for health insurance, he said.

24. Alabama State Capitol Building

25. Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

26. Russell Cave National Monument

27. Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

28. Foster Auditorium

29. Author: Ethan P. • Loves sports • Has 1 dog (Bobo) • Likes to play video games • Loves to hunt and fish • Enjoys riding his four-wheeler and bike