[10] Incorporated on December 13, 1819, it was named after Tuskaloosa, the chief of a band of Muskogean-speaking people defeated by the forces of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540 in the Battle of Mabila, in what is now central Alabama.

While it attracted international attention when Mercedes-Benz announced on September 30, 1993, that it would build its first North American automotive assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County,[12] the University of Alabama remains the city's dominant economic and cultural engine, making it a college town.

The pace of European settlement in the Southeast increased greatly after the War of 1812 and the Treaty of Fort Jackson and the subsequent availability of land previously settled by Native Americans.

[15] A small assortment of log cabins soon arose near the large Creek village at the fall line of the river, which the new settlers named in honor of the sixteenth-century Chief Tuskaloosa of a Muskogean-speaking tribe—combining the Choctaw words "tushka" or "tashka" ("warrior") and "lusa" ("black").

[19] In 1831, the University of Alabama was established and the town's population and economy grew rapidly, but the relocation of the capital to Montgomery caused a severe decline.

In the 1890s the construction of a system of locks and dams on the Black Warrior River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improved navigation to such an extent that Tuscaloosa was effectively connected to the Gulf Coast seaport of Mobile.

In the post World War II era, African Americans increased their activism to ensure their constitutional civil rights and challenged southern segregation in numerous ways.

After three years of legal wrangling, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP got a court order preventing the university from banning Lucy and another student based on race.

The following year, Lucy enrolled as a graduate student in Library Science on February 3, 1956, becoming the first Black admitted to a White public school or university in the state.

[26][27] On June 9, 1964, in an event that later became known as Bloody Tuesday, a group of African-American Civil rights marchers were beaten, arrested and tear-gassed by police in Tuscaloosa while walking from the First African Baptist Church to the County Courthouse to protest against the segregated restrooms and drinking fountains of this public facility.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox announced that he was requesting 500 additional National Guard troops and calling for more volunteer aid workers and cadaver teams for the recovery of bodies, in order to prevent the spread of disease.

In 2023, the City of Tuscaloosa secured an updated count for the 2020 Census, after proving an undercount of at least 1,100 University of Alabama students who were residing temporarily off-campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city of Tuscaloosa is home to many places of worship to which people from the surrounding area of West Alabama may come; the predominant denomination is Southern Baptist.

A Jewish community worships at the Chabad of Tuscaloosa as well as at Temple Emanu-El and the Hillel B'nai B'rith Center, both located on the University of Alabama campus.

25% of the labor force in the Tuscaloosa Metropolitan Statistical Area is employed by the federal, state and local governments; 16.7% in manufacturing; 16.4% in retail trade and transportation; 11.6% in finance, information, and private enterprise; 10.3% in mining and construction; and 9.2% in hospitality.

Originally the Gulf State Paper Corporation, founded in 1927, it sold its pulp and paperboard operations to the Rock-Tenn Company of Norcross, Georgia in 2005 and was restructured to form Westervelt.

Though some are affiliated with UA or Shelton State, several are independent organizations, including the Tuscaloosa Community Theater and Shakespeare troupe The Rude Mechanicals.

The Sandra Hall-Ray Fine Arts Centre on the Shelton State campus holds the Bean-Brown Theatre, a 450-seat proscenium theater, and the 100-seat Alabama Power Foundation Recital Hall.

The coliseum has hosted a diversity of events including commencement exercises, a visit by President Ronald Reagan, alumni gatherings, student convocations, concerts, operas, ballets, appearances by political figures, WCW Saturday Night, etc.

Some of the stars who have performed on its stages include The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Jay Leno, Hank Williams, Jr., Daughtry, and B.o.B.

Since its dedication ceremony in March 2011, a variety of performers have played there including John Legend, The Lumineers, Flo Rida, Nelly, TLC, ZZ Top, ODESZA, Mary J. Blige, Kenny Chesney, Widespread Panic, Steely Dan, Jeff Dunham, Jill Scott, and Fun.

This free, family-friendly event features games and activities, a live performance by the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, and fireworks over the Black Warrior River.

The University of Alabama Arboretum is located on 60 acres (243,000 m2) of land at the intersection of Veterans Memorial Parkway and Pelham Loop Road, adjacent to the VA Hospital.

In October 2023, Mayor Walt Maddox announced that the former News office building is slated to be razed to make way for a new municipal recreation center.

Additionally, each of the three colleges in the area are served by student-published periodicals, the largest being The Crimson White, the independent, student-run newspaper of the University of Alabama and one of several UA-affiliated student publications.

WVUA-CD is the only station that originates its broadcast in Tuscaloosa; it is owned by the University of Alabama and its studios are part of UA's Digital Media Center.

[104] The emergency department at DCH operates a trauma center (but it is not verified as one by the American College of Surgeons, however) that serves all of west central Alabama and is one of the busiest in the state.

Barge transportation in and out of the Port of Tuscaloosa and other commercial navigation make the Black Warrior a silent giant in the state of Alabama's economy.

Its construction opened up an inexpensive transportation link to the Gulf seaport of Mobile, Alabama that stimulated the mining and metallurgical industries of the region that are still in operation.

[109] The Army Corps of Engineers has maintained a system of locks and dams along the Black Warrior River for over a century to allow navigability all the way up to Birmingham.