Official Symbols of Alabama

	AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM Dothan Landmarks Park (1992)
	AMERICAN FOLK DANCE Square Dance (1981)
	AMPHIBIAN Red Hills Salamander, Phaeognathus hubrichti (2000)
	BARBECUE CHAMPIONSHIP Demopolis Christmas on the River Cook-Off (1991)
	BIBLE (1853)
	BIRD Common Flicker, aka Yellowhammer, Colaptes auratus (1927) The nickname "Yellowhammer" was applied to the Confederate soldiers from Alabama when a company of young cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, under the command of Rev. D.C. Kelly, arrived at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where General Forrest's troops were stationed. The officers and men of the Huntsville company wore fine, new uniforms with bits of brilliant yellow cloth on the sleeves, collars and coattails. As the company rode past Forrest's troops, who were dressed in faded, worn uniforms, one of the soldiers cried out in greeting "Yellowhammer, yellowhammer, flicker, flicker!" From that moment on the Huntsville soldiers were known as the "Yellowhammer Company." The term quickly spread throughout the Confederate Army, and soon all Alabama troops were unofficially known as the "Yellowhammers."
	BUTTERFLY Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1989)
	COAT OF ARMS (1939) The shield bears the emblems of the five governments that have held sovereignty over Alabama. The flags of Spain, France, Great Britain and the Confederacy are bound by the flag and shield of the United States. The shield is supported on either side by bald eagles, symbolic of courage. The crest is a model of the Baldine, the ship that Iberville and Bienville sailed from France to settle a colony near present-day Mobile (1699). The motto beneath the shield is "Audemus jura nostra defendere" ("We dare defend our rights").
	FLAG (1895)
	FLOWER Camellia (1959)
	FOSSIL Basilosaurus cetoides (1984)
	FISH Largemouth Bass (1975)
	GAME BIRD Wild Turkey (1980)
	GEMSTONE Star Blue Quartz (1990)
	HISTORIC THEATRE Alabama Theatre for the Performing Arts (1993)
	HORSE Racking Horse (1975)
	HORSESHOE TOURNAMENT Stockton Fall Horseshoe Tournament (1992)
	INSECT Monarch Butterfly (1989)
	MAMMAL Black Bear
	MASCOT Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1989)
	MINERAL Hematite (1967) The mining of Hematite, also known as red iron ore, was once the state's most developed non-fuel mineral industry, and the occurrence of hematite with nearby deposits of coal and limestone led to the development of Birmingham as an industrial center. From about 1840 to 1975, approximately 375 million tons of iron ore were mined in Alabama, principally from the Birmingham red-ore district.
	MOTTO "We Dare Defend Our Rights" (1939)
	NUT Pecan (1982)
	OUTDOOR DRAMA "The Miracle Worker" (1991) In 1962, the first production of William Gibson's drama, The Miracle Worker, was performed on the grounds of Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, and it has been a part of the annual week-long Helen Keller Festival ever since.
	OUTDOOR MUSICAL DRAMA "The Incident at Looney's Tavern" (1993) The Incident at Looney's Tavern is a historically factual musical drama staged in a 1500-seat amphitheatre in Winston County. The drama is the story of Christopher Sheats, a young Winston County school teacher who led Winston County's struggle against the South's secession prior to outbreak of the Civil War. The play was irst staged in a shopping center parking lot as part of the 1987 Winston County Free State Festival.
	POETS LAUREATE The honorary office of Poet Laureate of Alabama was created by an act of the 1931 Alabama Legislature. The Poet Laureate is designated by the Alabama Writers' Conclave, a voluntary organization of Alabama historians, playwrights, fiction writers, poets, and newspaper writers, and officially certified by the Governor. The term of office of the Poet Laureate was initially indeterminate, but was changed to 4 years by an amendment to the constitution of the Alabama Writers' Conclave in 1983. That amendment also limits the Poet Laureate to one term and requires that a Poet Laureate nominee reside in Alabama for at least 15 years. Samuel Minturn Peck, 1930-1938 Mary B. Ward, 1954-1958 Bert Henderson, 1959-1974 William Young Elliott, 1975-1982 Carl Patrick Morton, 1983-1987 Morton Dennison Prouty, Jr., 1988-1991 Ralph Hammond, 1992-1995 Helen Friedman Blackshear, 1995-1999 Helen Norris, 1999-2003 Sue Walker, 2003-2007
	QUILT Pine Burr Quilt (1997)
	RENAISSANCE FAIRE Florence Renaissance Faire (1988)
	REPTILE Alabama Red-Bellied Turtle (1990)
	ROCK Marble (1969)
	SALTWATER FISH Fighting Tarpon (1955)
	SEAL (1876)
	SHELL Scaphella junonia johnstoneae (1990)
	SOIL Bama Soil Series (1997) The Bama Soil Series includes fine-loamy, siliceous, subactive, and thermic Typic Paledults and occurs throughout the state. The soil was chosen by the Professional Soil Classifiers Association of Alabama.
	SONG "Alabama" (1933)
	STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Horse Show (1988)
	TREE Southern Longleaf Pine (1997)