State Prohibition, 14th Amendment Passed: July In Alabama History

BIRMINGHAM, AL - As Alabama celebrates the state's bicentennial this year, Patch continues its monthly series highlighting significant days in Alabama history. And July has some noteworthy anniversaries.

In addition to some famous birthdays, July also includes the anniversary of Alabama's alcohol prohibition, the beginning of the Creek Indian War, and more significant dates.

Here is what happened in Alabama history in July:

July, 1, 1915:

Statewide prohibition goes into effect in Alabama, five years before nationwide prohibition. The alcohol ban was first vetoed by Gov. Charles Henderson, but the legislature overrode his veto. Alabama would continue its alcohol ban four years after nationwide prohibition was repealed.

July 5, 1819:

Alabama’s first constitutional convention is convened in Huntsville. Less than a month later the forty-four delegates, representing twenty-two counties, adopted what would become known as the Constitution of 1819, the first of six Alabama constitutions.

July 7, 1915:

Author Margaret Walker is born in Birmingham. Walker is best known for her collections of poetry and her novel, Jubilee, which is based on her maternal grandmother’s memories of slavery. Walker taught for many years at Jackson State University in Mississippi and she died in 1998.

July 10, 1820:

Alabama’s first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, dies as a result of injuries received in a riding accident. As specified in the 1819 constitution the president of the state senate automatically became the new governor. The new governor was Bibb’s younger brother, Thomas Bibb, who had represented Limestone County at the Constitutional Convention and in the state senate.

July 13, 1868:

The Alabama legislature ratifies the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution, thereby meeting one of the requirements for readmission to the Union. In part, the amendment guaranteed that states could not abridge citizenship rights of “persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included freedmen.

July 14, 1948:

At the National Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, half of the Alabama delegation walks out in protest of the party’s stand for civil rights. Three days later those delegates and other southerners formed the Dixiecrats Party at a convention in Birmingham, nominating Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president.

July 19, 1941:

The first black pilots in the American military begin their primary flight training at Tuskegee Institute’s Moton Field. This first class of “Tuskegee Airmen” graduated the next March after transferring to Tuskegee Army Air Field to complete their training. The group saw its first action in World War II in 1943 as members of the segregated 99th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Corps.

July 26, 1914:

Erskine Hawkins, famed jazz musician, is born in Birmingham. His band, the ‘Bama State Collegians, became the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in the late 1930s after gaining a following in New York and winning a recording contract with RCA Victor.

July 26, 1952:

Alabama Senator John Sparkman is named the Democratic vice-presidential running mate with Adlai Stevenson. Sparkman was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama in 1936 and served in that body until 1946 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1979. The Democratic ticket lost the election to Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

July 27, 1813:

The Creek Indian War of 1813-1814 begins at Burnt Corn Creek in present-day Escambia County, Alabama. Creek leaders Peter McQueen and High Head Jim were returning from Pensacola, where they had secured supplies and arms from the Spanish and British, when they were attacked by American forces.