Alabama Bicentennial launch gets a Port City push
Gov. Kay Ivey, the Rev. Milton E. Saffold, Stone Street Baptist Church and U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne participate in the Alabama Bicentennial kickoff in Mobile. (Robert DeWitt / Alabama NewsCenter)
On the waterfront of Alabama’s oldest city, history mingled with visions of 21st century progress Friday. Gov. Kay Ivey launched the three-year celebration of Alabama’s bicentennial with a futuristic-looking littoral combat shop moored across the river at the Austal USA shipyard as her backdrop.
“Our people are as sweet as our iced tea and our future is a bright as the sun over the Gulf,” Ivey said in ceremonies held outside Mobile’s maritime museum on the banks of the Mobile River.
See more photos of Mobile’s Alabama Bicentennial kickoff
Ivey, who succeeded former Gov. Robert Bentley less than a month ago, lauded Alabama’s people as innovators. She pointed to the state’s frequently overlooked contributions to science and technology.
“On Dec. 14, 1819, when Alabama was admitted to the Union, no one could have foreseen the tremendous nature of the impact our people would have, not only on the nation but on the world,” Ivey said. “The history of our great state highlights our innovation and progress and the future seems bright with the possibility for more.”
Gov. Kay Ivey speaks at the kickoff of Alabama Bicentennial’s three-year celebration. (Robert DeWitt / Alabama NewsCenter)
The Alabama Territory was created in 1817 when the Mississippi Territory was split apart. Two years later, Alabama became the 22nd state. Beginning this year, bicentennial events through 2019 will celebrate the state’s 200th birthday.
“We’ll join together as Alabamians to find inspiration to build a better future,” said state Sen. Arthur Orr, chairman of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission. There will be plenty of festivals, concerts, fireworks and birthday cake along the way.
Each year of the celebration has a different theme. Orr said that 2017 would be dedicated to exploring the state’s places. In 2018, the celebration will honor the state’s people and in 2019 the state will share its stories.
“The bicentennial is the appropriate time for Alabamians to discover, preserve and share their history,” Orr said. “It is also a time to remember why we love our communities and why we are proud of our people. It is also time to make new stories. We have a lot to tell and it begins tonight.”
It’s no coincidence the celebration kicked off in the city that brought Mardi Gras to the New World, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said.
“We were born to celebrate, and we will kick this celebration off in the right fashion,” Stimpson said.
He called hosting the kickoff an honor for his city. While Mobile is proud of its past, it is focused on the future.
“We’re making history today,” Stimpson said. “We’re making history going forward for the next hundred years. This is the beginning of the next century. In Mobile, Alabama, we’re the only place in America where they’re building warships and large planes and that lays the foundations for the great things that are to come.”
The Mobile event served as the official launch of the bicentennial, which had its formal announcement in Montgomery in March.
In the event’s keynote speech, Edwin C. Bridges, director emeritus of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, noted that Mobile was the appropriate place to begin the bicentennial celebration.
“We could not find a better place in Alabama for launching our bicentennial,” Bridges said. “Events that have taken place right here, right in this area, have helped frame the story of Alabama history.”
Bridges outlined much of the area’s history from its first exploration by the Spanish in 1560 to Mobile’s settlement by the French. It passed through the hands of the British and Spanish before becoming part of the United States.
The city also has a rich history as a cotton port, a Civil War supply and munitions center and a shipbuilding center. It experienced economic booms during World War I and World War II that helped shape the modern city.
“As we look out here tonight, we see new activity all around us built on and growing out of the deep history that has gone before,” Bridges said.
Bridges pointed to the warship construction across the river, expansion of the state docks up and down river and the growth of the aerospace industry at Brookley Field.
“From this place, from right here, we see real life illustration how what we are grows out of our past. The struggles and conflicts in Alabama history have created issues that sometimes divide us. But our history, both good and bad, is an inheritance we all share.”
