Coat of arms of Alabama
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The Coat of Arms of Alabama depicts a shield upon which is carried the symbols of the five nations which have at various times held sovereignty over a part or the whole of what is now Alabama. These are the coat of arms of France, the ancient coat of arms of Spain--Castile quartering León, the anachronistic Union Flag of the United Kingdom and the flag of the Confederate States of America. On an escutcheon of pretence is borne the shield of the United States. The crest of the coat represents a ship (the "Badine") which brought the French colonists who established the first permanent European settlements in the state. Below is the state motto: Audemus jura nostra defendere, meaning "We dare to defend our rights."
The bill to legalize a state coat of arms was introduced in the Alabama Legislature of 1939 by James Simpson, Jefferson County, and was passed without a dissenting vote by both houses.(1)
The original design of the Alabama coat of arms was made in 1923 by B.J. Tieman, New York, an authority on heraldry, at the request of Marie Bankhead Owen, Director of the Department of Archives and History. A few years later Naomi Rabb Winston, Washington, DC, painted the completed design in oil. Mrs. Owen selected the motto which was put into Latin by Professor W.B. Saffold, of the University of Alabama. It was through the influence of Juliet Perry Dixon, wife of Governor Dixon, that official action was taken by the Legislature.(1)
A modernized design with the ship removed from the top of the shield and the latin inscription converted to English was copyrighted by J. Keith Haynes, Calhoun County in 1992. It is his intention to get this revised design approved by the Legislature to replace the current outdated coat of arms.
