1. In 1865, Union Army General James H. Wilson led his troops into Montgomery, Alabama, effectively ending the Civil War in the state.

2. In 1932, Helen Keller, a famous American author and activist who was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, addressed the Republican National Convention via radio broadcast.

3. The first modern advertising billboard was erected in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 20, 1891, by the City Advertising Company.

4. On September 20, 1963, Governor George Wallace ordered the Alabama National Guard to prevent two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling at the University of Alabama. The situation was resolved when President John F. Kennedy federalized the Guard and sent troops to enforce the court order allowing the students to enroll.

5. On September 20, 2002, Birmingham, Alabama-based health care company HealthSouth announced that it was under investigation for accounting fraud, which later proved to be one of the largest corporate fraud scandals in American history.