The community gained international attention in 1993 when it landed Mercedes-Benz's first North American assembly plant, and as of 2021, the company employs over 4,000 people at the facility.

See also the history of Tuscaloosa, Alabama The pace of white 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.

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.

On December 13, 1819, the territorial legislature incorporated the town of Tuskaloosa- now Tuscaloosa - one day before Congress admitted Alabama the Union as a state.

[4] The Civil War brought significant changes, including migration out of the county by some African Americans.

During the last weeks of the War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the university.

The town of Tuscaloosa was also damaged in the battle and shared fully in the South's economic sufferings which followed the defeat.

Tuscaloosa County had a total of 10 documented lynchings of African Americans, according to a 2015 study by the Equal Justice Initiative.

[5] 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 1901, the state legislature passed a constitution that disenfranchised most African Americans and tens of thousands of poor whites and followed with Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation.

Due to this oppression and problems of continued violence by lynchings, many African Americans left Alabama in two waves of the Great Migration in the first half of the 20th century.

The university was at the center of significant moments in the civil rights movement, including the admission of Autherine Lucy and the pro-segregation demonstration that followed as well as the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door incident in which then-governor George Wallace attempted to stop desegregation of the institution by denying entrance to two African-American students.

The late 20th century brought positive economic news when Mercedes-Benz announced it would build its first U.S. assembly plant near Vance.

The plant brought thousands of jobs to the area through its own direct hires as well as those of the many component suppliers it attracted.

On April 27, 2011, the city of Tuscaloosa was hit by a half-mile (800 m) wide EF4 tornado, which was part of the 2011 Super Outbreak.

[6][7] Officials at DCH Hospital (alone) in Tuscaloosa reported treating more than 1000 injured people in the first several days of the tornado aftermath.

The county straddles the boundary between the Appalachian Highlands and the Gulf Coastal Plain and consequently boasts a diverse geography.

The population core of the county lies in Tuscaloosa-Northport conurbation (including Coaling, Coker, and Holt CDP).

According to the 2000 census the largest ancestry groups in Tuscaloosa County were: 31.2% English, 29.31% African, 8.9% Irish, 7% German, 2.9% Scots-Irish and 2% Scottish.

Between 2020 and 2021, the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority reported a 31.2% increase in housing sales.

[25] Kentuck Art Center in historic downtown Northport represents approximately 180 artists from around the country, 60% of whom are local to Alabama.

[25] Tuscaloosa County's largest employers represent education institutions, quality health-care providers, and enterprises focused on advanced manufacturing for the automotive and other industries.

Tuscaloosa County has a total labor force of approximately 100,220[32] that includes many recent graduates of local higher education institutions.

Alabama Technology Network, part of the Alabama Community College System, is ISO 9001:2008 Certified and connects industry leaders with government and education resources to provide workforce training, technical assistance, and engineering services to existing workers in the following areas: Tuscaloosa City Schools and the Tuscaloosa County School District both offer technical and career education as part of their standard curriculum.

The Bill Taylor Institute, a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. and AIDT, offers high school and community apprenticeship courses.

The system is managed by a board of education, composed of 7 members elected by single-member districts by the voters of the county outside the limits of the city of Tuscaloosa.

For example, Tuscaloosa County voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in the 2008 Election by a margin of 58-42%.

However, Obama attracted high turnout and many votes from young people and others, in addition to the African-American minority.

The chief law enforcement officer of Tuscaloosa County, which comprises the Sixth Judicial Circuit, is Hays Webb, District Attorney, also an elected position.

On the federal level, Tuscaloosa County is divided between the fourth and seventh congressional districts of Alabama, represented by Robert Aderholt (R) and Terri Sewell (D), respectively.