The U.S. state of Alabama first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1911.

Some Alabama municipalities issued their own license plates for horse-drawn vehicles as well as automobiles prior to 1911.

A 1951 law added a heart shape and the phrase "Heart of Dixie" to the state's license plates (beginning with the 1954–55 plate), adopting a slogan created by the Alabama Chamber of Commerce.

[1] In 1956, the United States, Canada, and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at 6 inches (15 cm) in height by 12 inches (30 cm) in width, with standardized mounting holes.

[5] The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the first Alabama license plate that complied with these standards.

Alabama established a numerical county-code system for its license plates in 1941, with codes 1, 2 and 3 assigned to the three most populous counties of the time (Jefferson, Mobile and Montgomery), and codes 4 through 67 assigned to the remaining counties in alphabetical order.