Alabama's unofficial nickname, the "Heart of Dixie," started as a public relations campaign launched by the Alabama Chamber of Commerce in the late 1940s. The goal was to eliminate Alabama's generic "cotton state" nickname in favor of something more distinct. "Alabama is geographically the Heart of Dixie, Alabama is industrially the Heart of Dixie, Alabama is, in fact, the Heart of Dixie," the chamber noted,. A bill was soon passed to brand Alabama license plates with the "Heart of Dixie" slogan, the first of which rolled out in 1955.
