Bob Mount: Time to test your Alabama knowledge

By: Bob Mount Columnist | Opelika Auburn News
Published: April 21, 2009

The following is a test of your knowledge of events in Alabama history.

1. The only Indian tribe in America to have a written language was which of the following? (a) Seminoles; (b) Creeks; (c) Choctaws; (d) Apaches; (e) Cherokees

2. Who was the chief who invented the tribe’s alphabet? (a) Logan; (b) Sequoyah; (c) Tuscaloosa; (d) Tucumseh; (e) Weatherford

3. The last name of the first governor of Alabama was (a) Samford; (b) Bibb; (c) Graves; (d) Comer; (e) Jackson

4. The first capital of Alabama was in (a) Tuscaloosa; (b) Cahaba; (c) Birmingham; (d) Mobile; (e) Demopolis

5. What Alabama county declined to secede from the Union? (a) Madison; (b) Winston; (c) Marion; (d) Chambers; (e) Jefferson

6. What is the last name of the Confederate admiral who commanded the CSS Alabama? (a) Farragut; (b) Semmes; (c) Whitman; (d) Sanders; (e) Wilson

7. Which of the above issued the order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

8. The author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” lives in what Alabama city? (a) Mobile; (b) Huntsville; (c) Monroeville; (d) Dothan; (e) Montevallo

9. The birthplace of W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” was where in Alabama? (a) Selma; (b) Centreville; (c) Florence; (d) Sheffield; (e) Decatur

10. Marquis de Lafayette was celebrated in Alabama for (a) discovering Dauphin Island; (b) assisting the Confederacy; (c) assisting Americans in the War for Independence

11. When jeered by Auburn students, a candidate for governor said, “If y’all don’t show me some respect, when I’m elected I’ll plant this campus in peas.” (a) George Wallace; (b) Gordon Pearsons; (c) ‘Big Jim’ Folsom; (d) Fob James, Jr.; (e) John Patterson

12. Which of the following was the first to announce his candidacy for governor in 2010? (a) Tim James; (b) James Folsom Jr.; (c) Ron Sparks; (d) Joe Turnham; (e) Mike Hubbard

13. Which of the following has announced that he will give up his seat in Congress to run for governor in 2010? (a) Rep. Mike Rogers; (b) Rep. Artur Davis; (c) Rep. Spencer Bachus; (d) Rep. Robert Aderholt; (e) Rep. Jo Bonner

14. What governor named a son after Andrew Jackson and a daughter after Jackson’s wife Rachel? (a) Jim Folsom Sr.; (b) Braxton Bragg Comer; (c) William J. Samford; (d) Bibb Graves; (e) Frank M. Dixon

15. Which of the above first used “Big Mules” to refer to powerful business interests and Black Belt planters?

Answers: 1,e; 2,b; 3,b; 4,b; 5,b; 6,b; 7,a; 8,c; 9,c; 10,b; 11,c; 12,a; 13,b; 14,a; 15,d.

Scoring: 13-15 correct, exceptional; 10-12 correct, not bad at all; 7-9 correct, B-plus; 4-6 correct, good guesser; below 4 correct, you flunked

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.