Statehood The 22nd state Dec. 14, 1819 Captial Montgomery State Motto We dare defend our rights. Origin of State Name The name was derived from two Choctaw words roughly meaning vegetation (alba) and gatherer (amo), used to describe the Alabama, or Alibamon, people. State Nickname The Yellowhammer State During the Civil War a company of Alabama soldiers decked their uniforms with yellow trimmings that resembled the wing patches of the yellowhammer, the state bird. Interesting Facts In 1955 a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a successful boycott of the city's public transportation and brought the technique of passive resistance to national prominence. Beginning in the 1950s, the United States space flight program at Redstone Arsenal and George C. Marshall Space Flight Center made Huntsville a leading aerospace center. There are no large natural lakes in Alabama, but the state has several large reservoirs, including Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River and R. L. Harris Reservoir on the Tallapoosa River.