Cotton and other cash crops faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base
They held on to old representation to maintain political and economic power in agricultural areas
Urban interests were consistently underrepresented in the legislature
African Americans continued to press in the 1950s and 1960s to end disenfranchisement and segregation in the state through the civil rights movement, including legal challenges
Board of Education that public schools had to be desegregated, but Alabama was slow to comply
During the 1960s, under Governor George Wallace, Alabama resisted compliance with federal demands for desegregation
The civil rights movement had notable events in Alabama, including the Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956), Freedom Rides in 1961, and 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches
These contributed to Congressional passage and enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 by the U.S
Legal segregation ended in the states in 1964, but Jim Crow customs often continued until specifically challenged in court
According to The New York Times, by 2017, many of Alabama's African Americans were living in Alabama's cities such as Birmingham and Montgomery
Also, the Black Belt region across central Alabama "is home to largely poor counties that are predominantly African-American
These counties include Dallas, Lowndes, Marengo and Perry."

In 1972, for the first time since 1901, the legislature completed the congressional redistricting based on the decennial census
This benefited the urban areas that had developed, as well as all in the population who had been underrepresented for more than sixty years
Other changes were made to implement representative state house and senate districts
Alabama has made some changes since the late 20th century and has used new types of voting to increase representation
In the 1980s, an omnibus redistricting case, Dillard v
Crenshaw County, challenged the at-large voting for representative seats of 180 Alabama jurisdictions, including counties and school boards
At-large voting had diluted the votes of any minority in a county, as the majority tended to take all seats
Despite African Americans making up a significant minority in the state, they had been unable to elect any representatives in most of the at-large jurisdictions
As part of settlement of this case, five Alabama cities and counties, including Chilton County, adopted a system of cumulative voting for election of representatives in multi-seat jurisdictions
This has resulted in more proportional representation for voters
In another form of proportional representation, 23 jurisdictions use limited voting, as in Conecuh County
In 1982, limited voting was first tested in Conecuh County
Together use of these systems has increased the number of African Americans and women being elected to local offices, resulting in governments that are more representative of their citizens
Beginning in the 1960s, the state's economy shifted away from its traditional lumber, steel, and textile industries because of increased foreign competition
Steel jobs, for instance, declined from 46,314 in 1950 to 14,185 in 2011
However, the state, particularly Huntsville, benefited from the opening of the George C
Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960, a major facility in the development of the Saturn rocket program and the space shuttle
21st century 
In 2001, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore installed a statue of the Ten Commandments in the capitol in Montgomery
In 2002, the 11th US Circuit Court ordered the statue removed, but Moore refused to follow the court order, which led to protests around the capitol in favor of keeping the monument
The monument was removed in August 2003
A few natural disasters have occurred in the state in the twenty-first century
In 2004, Hurricane Ivan, a category 3 storm upon landfall, struck the state and caused over $18 billion of damage
It was among the most destructive storms to strike the state in its modern history
A super outbreak of 62 tornadoes hit the state in April 2011 and killed 238 people, devastating many communities
About three-fifths of the land area is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain, a gentle plain with a general descent towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico
The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes
Alabama is bordered by the states of Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida to the south, and Mississippi to the west
Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the extreme southern edge of the state
The state ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay to more than  in the northeast, to Mount Cheaha at
Alabama's land consists of  of forest or 67% of the state's total land area
Suburban Baldwin County, along the Gulf Coast, is the largest county in the state in both land area and water area
Additionally, Alabama has four National Forests: Conecuh, Talladega, Tuskegee, and William B
Alabama also contains the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
A -wide meteorite impact crater is located in Elmore County, just north of Montgomery
This is the Wetumpka crater, the site of "Alabama's greatest natural disaster"
A -wide meteorite hit the area about 80 million years ago
In 2002, Christian Koeberl with the Institute of Geochemistry University of Vienna published evidence and established the site as the 157th recognized impact crater on Earth
Climate 

The state is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa) under the Koppen Climate Classification
The average annual temperature is 64°F (18°C)