Editing Mobile, Alabama (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Mobile, Alabama}}
{{ For timeline}}

===Etymology===
{{Further|Alabama Creole people}}
The city gained its name from the Mobile tribe that the French colonists encountered living in the area of [[Mobile Bay]].<ref>Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pp. 17–20. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> Although it is debated by Alabama historians, they may have been descendants of the Native American tribe whose small fortress town, [[Mabila]], was used to conceal several thousand native warriors before an attack in 1540 on the expedition of Spanish explorer [[Hernando de Soto]].<ref>Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 12–13.</ref> About seven years after the founding of the French Mobile settlement, the Mobile tribe, along with the Tohomé, gained permission from the colonists to settle near the fort.<ref>Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 20 and 24</ref><ref name="maubilianind">{{cite web |title=The Old Mobile Project Newsletter |publisher =University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies |url=http://www.usouthal.edu/archaeology/pdf/issue-17.pdf |access-date=November 19, 2007}}</ref>

===Colonial===
[[File:Mobile1725.jpg|thumb|right|Mobile and the pentagonal [[Fort Condé]] in 1725]]
[[File:Fort Condé 2.jpg|thumb|upright|A reconstructed bastion of the Fort Condé]]

The European settlement of Mobile began with French colonists, who in 1702 constructed ''[[Old Mobile Site|Fort Louis de la Louisiane]]'', at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on the [[Mobile River]], as the first capital of the [[French colonial empires|French colony]] of [[Louisiana (New France)|La Louisiane]]. It was founded by [[French Canadian]] brothers [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] and [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville]], to establish control over France's claims to ''La Louisiane''. Bienville was appointed as royal governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile's Roman Catholic parish was established on July 20, 1703, by [[Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec|Bishop of Quebec]].<ref name="oldmobile1">Higginbotham, Jay. ''Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702–1711'', pages 106–107. Museum of the City of Mobile, 1977. {{ISBN|0-914334-03-4}}.</ref> The parish was the first French Catholic parish established on the [[Gulf Coast of the United States]].<ref name="oldmobile1"/>

In 1704, the ship [[French ship Pélican (1702)|''Pélican'']] delivered 23 Frenchwomen to the colony; passengers had contracted [[yellow fever]] at a stop in [[Havana]].<ref name="pelican">Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 20–21.</ref> Though most of the "''Pélican'' girls" recovered, numerous colonists and neighboring Native Americans contracted the disease in turn and many died.<ref name="pelican"/> This early period was also the occasion of the importation of the first African [[slaves]], transported aboard a French supply ship from the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] in the [[Caribbean]], where they had first been held.<ref name="pelican"/> The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708, yet shrinking to 178 persons two years later due to disease.<ref name="oldmobile1"/>

These additional outbreaks of disease and a series of floods resulted in Bienville ordering in 1711 that the settlement be relocated several miles downriver to its present location at the confluence of the [[Mobile River]] and [[Mobile Bay]].<ref>Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pp. 17–27. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> A new earth-and-palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time.<ref name="MoMfort">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museumofmobile.com/html/other_museums.php|title=History Museum of Mobile|website=Museumofmobile.com|access-date=March 4, 2022}}</ref>

The capital of [[Louisiana (New France)|La Louisiane]] was moved in 1720 to [[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]],<ref name="MoMfort"/> leaving Mobile to serve as a regional military and trading center. In 1723 the construction of a new brick fort with a stone foundation began<ref name="MoMfort"/> and it was renamed Fort Condé in honor of [[Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon]].<ref name="conde1">{{cite web |title=Historic Fort Conde |work=Museum of Mobile |url=http://www.museumofmobile.com/html/other_museums.php |access-date=October 18, 2007}}</ref>

In 1763, the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] was signed, ending the [[Seven Years' War]], which Britain won, defeating France. By this treaty, France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain. This area was made a part of the expanded British [[West Florida]] colony.<ref name="setmob1">{{cite web |title=Early European Conquests and the Settlement of Mobile |work=Alabama Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec02qs.html |access-date=October 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716172205/http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec02qs.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The British changed the name of Fort Condé to [[Fort Charlotte, Mobile|Fort Charlotte]], after [[Queen Charlotte]].<ref name="setmob2">{{cite web |title=Mobile: Alabama's Tricentennial City |work=Alabama Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/mobile/mobile3.html |access-date=October 20, 2007 |archive-date=August 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810204644/http://archives.state.al.us/mobile/mobile3.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The British were eager not to lose any useful inhabitants and promised religious tolerance to the French colonists; ultimately 112 French colonists remained in Mobile.<ref name="britmob1">Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 44–45</ref> The first permanent Jewish settlers came to Mobile in 1763 as a result of the new British rule and religious tolerance. Jews had not been allowed to officially reside in colonial French Louisiana due to the [[Code Noir]], a decree passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685 that forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism, and ordered all Jews out of France's colonies. Most of these colonial-era Jews in Mobile were merchants and traders from Sephardic Jewish communities in [[Savannah, Georgia]] and [[Charleston, South Carolina]]; they added to the commercial development of Mobile.<ref>Zietz, Robert (1994). ''The Gates of Heaven: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim, the first 150 years, Mobile, Alabama, 1844–1994.'' Mobile, Alabama: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim, pp. 7–39</ref> In 1766 the total population was estimated to be 860, though the town's borders were smaller than during the French colonial period.<ref name="britmob1"/> During the [[American Revolutionary War]], West Florida and Mobile became a refuge for [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalists]] fleeing the other colonies.<ref name="storymobile1">Delaney, Caldwell. ''The Story of Mobile'', page 45. Mobile, Alabama: Gill Press, 1953. {{ISBN|0-940882-14-0}}</ref>

While the British were dealing with their rebellious colonists along the Atlantic coast, the [[Spain in the American Revolutionary War|Spanish entered the war]] in 1779 as an ally of France. They took the opportunity to order [[Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez|Bernardo de Galvez]], Governor of Louisiana, on an expedition east to retake West Florida.<ref name="barrancas">{{cite book |title=The Fort Barrancas Story |author=David P. Ogden |date=January 2005 |publisher=Eastern National Parks |isbn=978-1-888213-15-7 |page=2}}</ref> He captured Mobile during the [[Battle of Fort Charlotte]] in 1780, as part of this campaign. The Spanish wished to eliminate any British threat to their Louisiana colony west of the Mississippi River, which they had received from France in the 1763 Treaty of Paris.<ref name="storymobile1"/> Their actions were condoned by the revolting American colonies, partially evidenced by the presence of Oliver Pollack, representative of the American Continental Congress. Due to strong trade ties, many residents of Mobile and [[West Florida]] remained loyal to the [[British Crown]].<ref name="storymobile1"/><ref name="barrancas"/> The Spanish renamed the fort as Fortaleza Carlota, and held Mobile as a part of Spanish [[West Florida]] until 1813, when it was seized by United States General [[James Wilkinson]] during the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="wilkinson">{{cite web |title=James Wilkinson |work=War of 1812 |url=http://www.galafilm.com/1812/e/people/wilkinson.html |access-date=October 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103184211/http://www.galafilm.com/1812/e/people/wilkinson.html |archive-date=November 3, 2007 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===19th century===
[[File:Southern Hotel Water Street.jpg|thumb|A [[Historic American Buildings Survey|HABS]] photo of the Southern Hotel on Water Street in 1934. It was completed in 1837 and demolished soon after this photograph was taken.]]
By the time Mobile was included in the [[Mississippi Territory]] in 1813, the population had dwindled to roughly 300 people.<ref name="antebellum1">{{cite book |last=Thomason |first=Michael |title=Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city |page=65 |publisher=Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> The city was included in the [[Alabama Territory]] in 1817, after [[Mississippi]] gained statehood. Alabama was granted statehood in 1819; Mobile's population had increased to 809 by that time.<ref name="antebellum1"/>

Mobile was well situated for trade, as its location tied it to a river system that served as the principal navigational access for most of Alabama and a large part of Mississippi. River transportation was aided by the introduction of [[steamboat]]s in the early decades of the 19th century.<ref>
{{cite book|title=The Transportation Revolution, 1815–1860 |last=Taylor|first= George Rogers|year=1969 |isbn= 978-0873321013}}</ref> By 1822, the city's population had risen to 2,800.<ref name="antebellum1"/>

The [[Industrial Revolution]] in Great Britain created shortages of cotton, driving up prices on world markets.<ref>{{cite book|title= Empire of Cotton: A Global History|last=Beckert |first= Sven|year= 2014|publisher =Vintage Books Division Penguin Random House |location=US|isbn= 978-0-375-71396-5}}</ref>  Much land well suited to growing cotton lies in the vicinity of the [[Mobile River]], and its main tributaries the [[Tombigbee River|Tombigbee]] and [[Alabama River]]s. A [[plantation economy]] using slave labor developed in the region and as a consequence Mobile's population quickly grew. It came to be settled by attorneys, [[cotton factor]]s, doctors, merchants and other professionals seeking to capitalize on trade with the upriver areas.<ref name="antebellum1"/>

[[File:Convent Visitation 01.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Convent and Academy of the Visitation]], completed in 1855]]
From the 1830s onward, Mobile expanded into a city of commerce with a primary focus on the cotton and slave trades. Many slaves were transported by ship in the [[coastwise slave trade]] from the Upper South. There were many businesses in the city related to the slave trade – people to make clothes, food, and supplies for the slave traders and their wards. The city's booming businesses attracted merchants from the North; by 1850 10% of its population was from [[New York City]], which was deeply involved in the cotton industry.<ref>[http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/161/cotton-in-a-global-economy-mississippi-1800-1860 Eugene R. Dattel, "Cotton in a Global Economy: Mississippi (1800–1860)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615105736/http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/161/cotton-in-a-global-economy-mississippi-1800-1860 |date=June 15, 2019}}, October 2006, Mississippi History Now, online publication of the Mississippi Historical Society</ref> Mobile was the slave-trading center of the state until the 1850s, when it was surpassed by [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]].<ref name="antebellum3">{{cite book |last=Thomason |first=Michael |title=Mobile: The New History of Alabama's first city |pages=79–80 |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8173-1065-7}}</ref>

The prosperity stimulated a building boom that was underway by the mid-1830s, with the building of some of the most elaborate structures the city had seen up to that point. This was cut short in part by the [[Panic of 1837]] and [[yellow fever]] epidemics.<ref name="antebellum2">{{cite book |last=Thomason |first=Michael |title=Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city |pages=69–71 |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> The waterfront was developed with wharves, terminal facilities, and fireproof brick warehouses.<ref name="antebellum1"/> The exports of cotton grew in proportion to the amounts being produced in the [[Black Belt (region of Alabama)|Black Belt]]; by 1840 Mobile was second only to [[New Orleans]] in cotton exports in the nation.<ref name="antebellum1"/>

With the economy so focused on one crop, Mobile's fortunes were always tied to those of cotton, and the city weathered many financial crises.<ref name="antebellum1"/> Mobile slaveholders owned relatively few slaves compared to planters in the upland [[Plantations in the American South|plantation]] areas, but many households had domestic slaves, and many other slaves worked on the waterfront and on riverboats. The last slaves to enter the United States from the African trade were brought to Mobile on the slave ship [[Clotilda (slave ship)|''Clotilda'']]. Among them was [[Cudjoe Lewis]], who in the 1920s became the last survivor of the slave trade.<ref>"[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2714041?uid=3738232&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21103223509871 Cudjo's Own Story of the Last African Slaver]", ''Journal of Negro History'' 12 (1927), 648 [[Jstor]]</ref>

[[File:Steamer loading cotton in Mobile.jpg|thumb|[[Steamboat]]s bound for inland Alabama and Mississippi being loaded at Mobile's dockyards]]
By 1853, fifty Jewish families lived in Mobile, including [[Philip Phillips (lawyer)|Philip Phillips]], an attorney from [[Charleston, South Carolina]], who was elected to the Alabama State Legislature and then to the United States Congress. Many early Jewish families were descendants of Sephardic Jews who had been among the earliest colonial settlers in Charleston and Savannah.<ref>Zietz, Robert (1994). ''The Gates of Heaven: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim, The First 150 Years'', Mobile, Alabama, 1844–1994. Mobile, Alabama: Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim. pp. 7–39</ref>

By 1860 Mobile's population within the city limits had reached 29,258 people; it was the 27th-largest city in the United States and 4th-largest in what would soon be the [[Confederate States of America]].<ref name="1860cen">{{cite web|title=Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1860 |work=United States Bureau of the Census |url=https://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab09.txt |access-date=November 2, 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011126145022/http://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab09.txt |archive-date=November 26, 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The free population in the whole of Mobile County, including the city, consisted of 29,754 citizens, of which 1,195 were [[Person of color|free people of color]].<ref name="pop1860">{{cite web|title=Census Data for the Year 1860 |work=Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research |url=http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/censusbin/census/cen.pl?year=860 |access-date=November 13, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506121628/http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/censusbin/census/cen.pl?year=860 |archive-date=May 6, 2007}}</ref> Additionally, 1,785 slave owners in the county held 11,376 people in bondage, about one-quarter of the total county population of 41,130 people.<ref name="pop1860"/>

During the [[American Civil War]], Mobile was a Confederate city. The ''[[H. L. Hunley (submarine)|H. L. Hunley]]'', the first [[submarine]] to sink an enemy ship, was built in Mobile.<ref name="Hunley">{{cite web|title=H. L. Hunley |work=Naval Historical Center |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-3.htm |access-date=October 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014220553/http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-3.htm |archive-date=October 14, 2007}}</ref> One of the most famous [[naval engagement]]s of the [[American Civil War|war]] was the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]], resulting in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] taking control of [[Mobile Bay]] on August 5, 1864.<ref name="newhist1">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', page 113. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> On April 12, 1865, three days after [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender at [[Battle of Appomattox Courthouse|Appomattox Courthouse]], the city surrendered to the [[Union army]] to avoid destruction after Union victories at nearby [[Battle of Spanish Fort|Spanish Fort]] and [[Battle of Fort Blakeley|Fort Blakeley]].<ref name="newhist1"/>

[[File:Mobile Cotton Exchange.jpg|thumb|[[Mobile Cotton Exchange]] and Chamber of Commerce building, completed in 1886]]
On May 25, 1865, the city suffered great loss when some three hundred people died as a result of an [[Mobile magazine explosion|explosion]] at a [[Federal government of the United States|federal]] [[ammunition depot]] on Beauregard Street. The explosion left a {{convert|30|ft|m|0|adj=on}} deep hole at the depot's location, and sank ships docked on the Mobile River; the resulting fires destroyed the northern portion of the city.<ref>Delaney, Caldwell. ''The Story of Mobile'', pp. 144–146. Mobile, Alabama: Gill Press, 1953. {{ISBN|0-940882-14-0}}</ref>

Federal [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] in Mobile began after the Civil War and effectively ended in 1874 when the local [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] gained control of the city government.<ref name="reconstruction1">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', page 153. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> The last quarter of the 19th century was a time of economic depression and municipal insolvency for Mobile. One example can be provided by the value of Mobile's exports during this period of depression. The value of exports leaving the city fell from $9 million in 1878 to $3&nbsp;million in 1882.<ref name="exports1878">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: the new history of Alabama's first city'', p. 145. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:Van Antwerp Building 1907.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|The [[Van Antwerp Building]], completed in 1907]]
The turn of the 20th century brought the [[Progressive Era]] to Mobile. The economic structure developed with new industries, generating new jobs and attracting a significant increase in population.<ref name="progress1">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pages 154–169. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> The population increased from around 40,000 in 1900 to 60,000 by 1920.<ref name="progress1"/> During this time the city received $3 million in federal grants for harbor improvements to deepen the shipping channels.<ref name="progress1"/> During and after World War I, manufacturing became increasingly vital to Mobile's economic health, with shipbuilding and steel production being two of the most important industries.<ref name="progress1"/>

During this time, social justice and race relations in Mobile worsened, however.<ref name="progress1"/> The state passed a new constitution in 1901 that [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites]]; and the white Democratic-dominated legislature passed other discriminatory legislation. In 1902, the city government passed Mobile's first [[racial segregation]] ordinance, segregating the city streetcars. It legislated what had been informal practice, enforced by convention.<ref name="progress1"/> Mobile's African-American population responded to this with a two-month boycott, but the law was not repealed.<ref name="progress1"/> After this, Mobile's ''de facto'' segregation was increasingly replaced with legislated segregation as whites imposed [[Jim Crow laws]] to maintain [[white supremacy|supremacy]].<ref name="progress1"/>

In 1911 the city adopted a commission form of government, which had three members elected by [[at-large]] voting. Considered to be progressive, as it would reduce the power of ward bosses, this change resulted in the elite white majority strengthening its power, as only the majority could gain election of at-large candidates. In addition, poor whites and blacks had already been disenfranchised. Mobile was one of the last cities to retain this form of government, which prevented smaller groups from electing candidates of their choice. But Alabama's white yeomanry had historically favored [[single-member districts]] in order to elect candidates of their choice.<ref name="vra">[http://www.protectcivilrights.org/pdf/voting/AlabamaVRA.pdf James Blacksher, Edward Still, Nick Quinton, Cullen Brown, and Royal Dumas, "Voting Rights in Alabama 1982–2006"], July 2006, RenewtheVRA.org, accessed March 12, 2015</ref>

[[File:Alabama - Mobile Bay through Mobile - NARA - 23934849 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Warehouse district at the port, 1932]]
The [[red imported fire ant]] was first introduced into the United States via the Port of Mobile. Sometime in the late 1930s they came ashore off cargo ships arriving from South America. The ants were carried in the soil used as ballast on those ships.<ref name="FireAnts">{{cite web |url=http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/documents/FACT/RedImportedFireAntsJusttheFacts-Sep2007.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=September 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617063432/http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/documents/FACT/RedImportedFireAntsJusttheFacts-Sep2007.pdf |archive-date=June 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> They have spread throughout the South and Southwest.

[[File:Liberty ship at sea.jpg|thumb|A [[Liberty ship]] of the type built at [[Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company]] during World War II. Twenty were completed in Mobile.]]
[[File:Type T2-SE-A1 tanker Hat Creek underway at sea on 16 August 1943.jpg|thumb|The [[SS Hat Creek|SS ''Hat Creek'']], a [[T2 tanker]] completed by Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company in 1943. The company built 102 of these oil tankers during WWII.]]
During [[World War II]], the defense buildup in Mobile shipyards resulted in a considerable increase in the city's white middle-class and working-class population, largely due to the massive influx of workers coming to work in the shipyards and at the [[Brookley Air Force Base|Brookley Army Air Field]].<ref name="thomason2">Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile: The New History of Alabama's First City'', pp. 213–217. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8173-1065-7}}</ref> Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries.<ref name="thomason2"/>

Mobile was one of eighteen United States cities producing [[Liberty ships]]. Its [[Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company]] (ADDSCO) supported the war effort by producing ships faster than the [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis powers]] could sink them. ADDSCO also churned out a copious number of [[T2 tanker]]s for the War Department.<ref name="thomason2"/> [[Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation]], a subsidiary of [[Waterman Steamship Corporation]], focused on building [[Cargo ship|freighters]], {{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer}}s, and [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweepers]].<ref name="thomason2"/> The rapid increase of population in the city produced crowded conditions, increasing social tensions in the competition for housing and good jobs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Four Towns: Mobile |url=https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-war/mobile |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=The War {{!}} Ken Burns {{!}} PBS |language=en}}</ref>

In May 1943, a [[race riot]] broke out between whites and blacks. ADDSCO management had long maintained segregated conditions at the shipyards, although the Roosevelt administration had ordered defense contractors to integrate facilities. That year ADDSCO promoted 12 blacks to positions as welders, previously reserved for whites; and whites objected to the change by rioting on May 24. The mayor appealed to the governor to call in the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] to restore order, but it was weeks before officials allowed African Americans to return to work.<ref name="addsco">[http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1475 Scotty E. Kirkland, "Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company (ADDSCO)"]. ''Encyclopedia of Alabama'' online, 2008, update August 10, 2015</ref>

In the late 1940s, the transition to the postwar economy was hard for the city, as thousands of jobs were lost at the shipyards with the decline in the defense industry. Eventually the city's social structure began to become more liberal. Replacing shipbuilding as a primary economic force, the paper and chemical industries began to expand. No longer needed for defense, most of the old military bases were converted to civilian uses. Following the war, in which many African Americans had served, veterans and their supporters stepped up activism to gain enforcement of their constitutional rights and social justice, especially in the [[Jim Crow]] South. During the 1950s the City of Mobile integrated its police force and [[Spring Hill College]] accepted students of all races. Unlike in the rest of the state, by the early 1960s the city buses and lunch counters voluntarily desegregated.<ref name="thomason2"/>

The Alabama legislature passed the Cater Act in 1949, allowing cities and counties to set up industrial development boards (IDB) to issue municipal bonds as incentives to attract new industry into their local areas. The city of Mobile did not establish a Cater Act board until 1962. [[George E. McNally]], Mobile's first Republican mayor since Reconstruction, was the driving force behind the founding of the IDB. The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, believing its members were better qualified to attract new businesses and industry to the area, considered the new IDB as a serious rival. After several years of political squabbling, the Chamber of Commerce emerged victorious. While McNally's IDB prompted the Chamber of Commerce to become more proactive in attracting new industry, the chamber effectively shut Mobile city government out of economic development decisions.<ref>Bill Patterson, "The Founding of the Industrial Development Board of the City of Mobile: The Port City's Reluctant Use of Subsidies", ''Gulf South Historical Review'' 2000 15(2): 21–40,</ref>

In 1963, three African-American students brought a case against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to [[Murphy High School, Alabama|Murphy High School]].<ref name="murphy1">Thomason (2001), ''Mobile'', pp. 260–261</ref> This was nearly a decade after the United States Supreme Court had ruled in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The federal district court ordered that the three students be admitted to Murphy for the 1964 school year, leading to the desegregation of Mobile County's school system.<ref name="murphy1"/>

The [[civil rights movement]] gained congressional passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], but maintaining the city commission form of government with [[at-large]] voting resulted in all positions being elected by the white majority, as African Americans could not command a majority for their candidates in the informally segregated city.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

[[File:Downtown Mobile 2008 03.JPG|thumb|Downtown in 2008, as seen from Cooper Riverside Park. Buildings include (L to R): The Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, [[RSA–BankTrust Building]], Arthur C. Outlaw Convention Center, and the [[RSA Battle House Tower]].]]
In 1969, the [[Brookley Air Force Base]] was closed by the Department of Defense, dealing a severe blow to Mobile's economy. The closing resulted in a 10% unemployment rate in the city.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Mobile's city commission form of government was challenged and finally overturned in 1982 in ''[[City of Mobile v. Bolden]]'', which was remanded by the [[United States Supreme Court]] to the district court. Finding that the city had adopted a commission form of government in 1911 and [[at-large]] positions with discriminatory intent, the court proposed that the three members of the city commission should be elected from [[single-member districts]], likely ending their division of executive functions among them. Mobile's state legislative delegation in 1985 finally enacted a [[mayor-council]] form of government, with seven members elected from [[single-member districts]]. This was approved by voters.<ref name="vra"/> As white conservatives increasingly entered the Republican Party in the late 20th century, African-American residents of the city have elected members of the Democratic Party as their candidates of choice. Since the change to single-member districts, more women and African Americans were elected to the council than under the at-large system.<ref name="vra"/>

Beginning in the late 1980s, newly elected mayor [[Mike Dow]] and the city council began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive city.<ref name="progress2">{{cite web |title=Mobile Wins Title of All American City |work=City of Mobile |url=http://www.cityofmobile.org/mapsnfacts/all_america.php |access-date=November 15, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017135508/http://cityofmobile.org/mapsnfacts/all_america.php |archive-date=October 17, 2007 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The city initiated construction of numerous new facilities and projects, and the restoration of hundreds of historic downtown buildings and homes.<ref name="progress2"/> City and county leaders also made efforts to attract new business ventures to the area.<ref name="progress3">{{cite web |title=2005 State of the City |work=City of Mobile |url=http://www.cityofmobile.org/news.php?view=full&news=679 |access-date=November 15, 2007}}</ref>