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Montgomery, Alabama

"Cradle of the Confederacy"

The city where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, where Martin Luther King launched his career, and where the Confederacy was born — all within a few blocks.

Founded 1819 | Population 193,703 | Peak 201,568 (2000) | County Montgomery County

Top 10 Most Important Events for Montgomery, Alabama

1955Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat on Dec 1. The 381-day boycott led by young pastor Martin Luther King Jr. ended bus segregation and launched the modern civil rights movement.

1861Confederate Capital: Montgomery served as the first capital of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president on the steps of the Alabama Capitol.

1965Selma to Montgomery March: The 54-mile march for voting rights ended at the Alabama Capitol steps, where King addressed 25,000 people. It led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1910Wright Brothers' School: The Wright Brothers established one of the nation's first civilian flying schools at Montgomery, beginning the city's long aviation history.

2018National Memorial for Peace and Justice: The nation's first memorial to lynching victims opened in Montgomery, documenting over 4,400 racial terror lynchings.

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Complete Historical Timeline

1819 Government

City incorporated

1846 Government

Becomes Alabama state capital

1861 Government

First Confederate capital

1910 Science

Wright Brothers flying school

1940 Government

Maxwell Field WWII training

1955 Civil Rights

Rosa Parks and bus boycott

1965 Civil Rights

Selma to Montgomery march

2018 Culture

Lynching memorial opens

Did You Know?

Montgomery is the only city that served as capital for both the Confederacy (1861) and the civil rights movement (1955-65).

The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where MLK pastored, is just a block from the Alabama Capitol where Jefferson Davis was inaugurated.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice has 800 steel columns — one for each U.S. county where a documented lynching occurred.

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