Alabama State Capitol

Built in 1851, the current Alabama State Capitol is the state's fifth capitol building. It was designed in the Greek Revival style and incorporates elements of the Beaux Arts style as well. The building is historically significant on a national level for two main reasons: it was the site of the first capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the end point of the Selma- Montgomery March that ended on the steps on the west side of the building on March 25, 1965. The march, which began on March 7 and led by Martin Luther King and several other leaders of the movement, highlighted the racial injustices still in place in the South. It was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, helping pave the way for the Voting Rights Act which was signed into law on August 6, 1965. For these reasons, the capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark.

The Confederacy began here in early 1861. Delegates from six seceding Southern states met here on February 4, 1861. On February 8, they adopted a "Constitution for the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America." Jefferson Davis was inaugurated on the west portico on February 18. The Congress of the Confederate States met here until May 22, 1861, when the capital moved to Richmond, Virginia, after the state joined the Confederacy.

In 1965 the Alabama State Capitol was used again but this time by civil rights activists during the voting rights struggle. Passed in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment made it illegal for state governments to disfranchise it citizens based on the color of their skin. Despite the amendment, many southern states found ways to keep African Americans away from the polls.  Several states required African Americans to pass literacy tests that were designed to fail any Black person who took them, a poll tax was implemented, and the threat of violence or death to oneself or one’s family was also used to discourage voting. This ongoing violation of the Fifteenth Amendment led civil rights leaders and organizations such as Martin Luther King Jr. and SNCC to organize a march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in March 1965.

There were three marches in the Selma to Montgomery March. The first two marches did not go beyond Selma after Alabama State Police beat the marchers on March 7 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and the second attempt on March 9 ended with the marchers returning to Selma where later that evening a Black minister was killed. By March 21, the marchers were granted federal protection and started their third and final march to Montgomery. After travelling 54 miles along Highway 80, the marchers entered the city of Montgomery. On the steps of the Alabama State Capitol King delivered his “How Long, Not Long” speech that described the struggles of the African American in the past but also the change and hope that was occurring in 1965 and would continue in the future.

"History of the Alabama State Capitol." Alabama Historical Commission. Accessed September 18, 2017. http://ahc.alabama.gov/AlabamaStateCapitolHistoryFacts.aspx.

Schroer, Blanche H. "Confederate Capitol." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. October 15, 1966. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/be3e9d9f-681b-4dc5-897e-d247d2d11b29. 

Photo: DXR, via Wikimedia Commons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_State_Capitol#/media/File:Alabama_State_Capitol,_Montgomery,_W...
"Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail Alabama." nps.gov. Accessed on December 12, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/cultural_diversity/Selma_to_Montgomery_National_Historic_Trail.html