Editing Monroe County, Alabama (section)

==History==
For thousands of years the area was inhabited by [[indigenous peoples]]. In historic times, it was primarily the territory of the [[Muscogee (Creek)|Muscogee or Creek]] peoples, who became known to European-American settlers as one of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] of the Southeast.

The prominent [[Upper Creek]] chief Red Eagle (also known as [[William Weatherford]]), of the [[Wind Clan]], settled here after the [[Creek War]] (1813-1814). At the time, the United States was also involved in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. Red Eagle established a successful [[plantations in the American South|cotton plantation]]. He was of Creek and European descent, and had adopted the system of [[chattel slavery]] to gain workers for his plantation and horse breeding. In the 1830s the United States forced the [[Indian Removal|removal]] of most of the Creek people from Alabama to [[Indian Territory]] (now [[Oklahoma]]), in order to take over their territory.

The area was settled by European Americans, primarily of English and Scots-Irish descent. It was largely developed as cotton plantations in the antebellum years. Planters moving from the Upper South sometimes brought slave workers with them, or purchased more slaves from traders and markets after acquiring land. The population was made up of numerous slaves, who in some sections outnumbered the whites.

Following the American Civil War and Emancipation, in the period after the [[Reconstruction era]] and into the early 20th century, white Democrats regained control of the state legislature and worked to restore and maintain [[white supremacy]]. The legislature passed a new constitution in 1901 that [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised most blacks]] and tens of thousands of poor whites, excluding them from the political system. The legislators also passed laws imposing racial segregation and other forms of [[Jim Crow]], and centralized power in the legislature.

===Late 19th century to present===
Physical violence by whites against blacks was part of the oppressive social system. Racial terrorism was perpetrated through [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings]] of African Americans, mostly of men, which took place outside the justice system. They were often conducted as public displays on the courthouse square, spectacles attended by large white mobs in an enactment of their power. Monroe had a total of seventeen lynchings from 1877 to 1950, the second highest number of any county in Alabama.<ref name="supp">[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf "Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Alabama: Lowndes", 3nd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, from ''Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror'', 2015 (3rd edition), Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative</ref>

[[File:Old Monroe County Courthouse, Alabama.jpg|thumb|left|Old Monroe County Courthouse in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, the model for the courthouse used in the [[To Kill a Mockingbird (film)|movie]]]]
The county seat, [[Monroeville, Alabama|Monroeville]], is the home of two notable 20th-century authors, [[Truman Capote]] and [[Harper Lee|Nelle Harper Lee]], who were childhood neighbors. The novelist [[Mark Childress]] and journalist [[Cynthia Tucker (journalist)|Cynthia Tucker]] are also Monroe County natives. In 1997 the Alabama Legislature designated Monroeville and Monroe County as the "Literary Capital of Alabama".

The county is near the [[Gulf Coast]] and is affected by storms from the Gulf. It has twice been declared a disaster area by the federal government due to extensive [[hurricane]] damage: in September 1979 due to [[Hurricane Frederic]], and in September 2004 due to [[Hurricane Ivan]].

Attorney [[Bryan Stevenson]] published his memoir, ''[[Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption]]'' in 2014. He has worked since his early 20s in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], establishing the [[Equal Justice Initiative]] and serving as legal counsel for people on death row in Alabama prisons. He has succeeded in gaining freedom for more than 100 men who were [[wrongfully convicted]]. Among the cases he discusses is that of [[Walter McMillian]] of Monroeville, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1989. McMillian, an African American man, was sentenced to death by the trial judge, who overrode the lesser sentence reached by the jury. McMillian was kept on death row for 6 years, nearly 2 of which were prior to his trial, in an effort to make him confess. In 1993 the Alabama Appeals Court ruled that McMillian should be freed because of the lack of evidence, his alibi, the unreliability of witnesses, and mishandling of the trial.<ref>[http://bryanstevenson.com/see-the-stories/walter-mcmillian/ See the stories: "Walter McMillian"], Bryan Stevenson website</ref>