1. On February 17, 1836, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in the case of State v. Tully that dueling was illegal in Alabama. Prior to this ruling, dueling had been a common means of settling disputes, especially among wealthy gentlemen.

2. On February 17, 1864, during the Civil War, the Union Army under General William T. Sherman burned the town of Meridian, Mississippi, located just a few miles from the Alabama state line. The destruction of Meridian was part of Sherman's campaign to destroy Confederate infrastructure and supplies.

3. On February 17, 1919, the governor of Alabama, Thomas Kilby, signed a bill prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or possession of alcoholic beverages in the state. This law, known as Prohibition, remained in effect until it was repealed in 1933.

4. On February 17, 1945, the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier built in Mobile, Alabama, was hit by Japanese bombs during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The ship sustained significant damage, and over 100 crew members were killed or wounded.

5. On February 17, 1956, a group of African American ministers and civil rights activists met in Montgomery, Alabama, to plan a boycott of the city's buses in protest of segregated seating arrangements. This meeting led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for over a year and became a key moment in the civil rights movement.