Starbucks Alabama mug: Discovery Series
The Alabama mug from Starbucks' Discovery Series sets the state name in pale green over a dark green circle, with guitars, red camellias, berries, a red propeller plane, an arch bridge and a waterfall.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- Alabama, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
Sponsored links: we earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The First Lady who asked for a ride at Tuskegee
In late March 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt toured a flight-training field at Tuskegee, Alabama, and asked for a ride [3]. Her pilot was the school's chief flight instructor, Charles Alfred Anderson, a Black man in a country where many people doubted that Black men could fly [8]. Her security men objected. According to the MIT Black History Project, she went up with him anyway and insisted the flight be photographed [4]. The picture of the two of them in a Piper Cub became famous, and she wrote about the flight in a widely published column [5]. Soon after her visit, the Rosenwald Fund put up $175,000, and construction of Moton Field, where the new cadets would train, quickly started [6][7]. The red plane on the Alabama mug (5) may be a plane like the ones those pilots flew.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1Electric guitar
An electric guitar angles across the top left, with music notes floating above it.
- 2Banjo
A banjo hangs below the guitar, its round body facing the viewer.
- 3Red berries
A cluster of red berries and leaves sits above the lettering. Alabama's official state fruit is the blackberry, which may be what the artist drew; the mug doesn't say.[1]
- 4Camellias
Two large red flowers with layered petals and blue-green leaves sit at the lower left. The camellia became Alabama's state flower in 1959.[1]
- 5Red propeller plane
A red propeller plane with white star markings banks across the top right. The Tuskegee Airmen, famous as the Red Tails, trained at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, where the National Park Service site displays a P-51D Mustang. The mug doesn't name the aircraft.[2]
- 6Arch bridge
A blue arch with red vertical hangers spans the bottom of the green circle.
- 7Waterfall and shrimp
A waterfall tumbles over a cliff at the lower right, with a red shrimp-like creature in the foam and pine trees behind.
- 8Lettering
ALABAMA in pale green capitals over a dark green circle; the last letters fade toward the plane.
- 9Beach ball Back view
A red, white and blue beach ball hangs in mid-air above a player in red shorts who is reaching up to hit it.
- 10Rocket Back view
A slim red-and-white rocket stands upright at the right, its base in a band of blue waves. The mug doesn't say which rocket or where.
- 11Palm trees Back view
Palm trees frame the scene: a small one at the far left and a tall dark-green one right of centre.
- 12Sandcastle Back view
A figure in a sun hat kneels in the sand beside a red bucket and a sandcastle with dark towers.
- 13Striped arc Back view
A striped arc in red and blue tones curves over the waves at the right edge, cut off by the curve of the mug.
- 14STARBUCKS wordmark Back view
The STARBUCKS wordmark runs up the side next to the handle, which is how you can tell this is the back of the mug.
- 15Football Side view
A red football arcs through the air at the upper left, with blue motion lines behind it.
- 16Football helmet Side view
A red football helmet with a dark face mask tips forward above a pale-blue rock formation.
- 17Layered rock Side view
A stack of pale blue, layered rock sits under the helmet, with a wide red band curving across its base.
- 18Domed brick building Side view
A red-brick building with white columns and a small red dome stands at the lower left.
- 19Peanuts Side view
Two blue-grey peanut shells with red kernels lie at the bottom, between the building and the flowers.
The front, side and back photos together cover the whole mug except the area right behind the handle.
Collector notes
- Alabama is also listed in the Been There and You Are Here series on our checklists, so check the series in the listing title before you pay.
- The seller used a bright teal backdrop, which makes the pale lettering easy to read here but is not part of the mug.
Before you buy
Alabama also appears in the Been There and You Are Here series, so check the series in the listing title before you pay. This Discovery Series mug holds 14 fl oz. Our front, side and back photos cover everything except the area right behind the handle.
Other Alabama mugs
More Discovery Series mugs from Alabama
About the Discovery Series
Sources
- Quick Facts (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
- Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site (National Park Service)
- Two Special Anniversaries, Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site (National Park Service)
- Eleanor Roosevelt and Charles Anderson, 1941 (MIT Black History Project)
- Charles A. Anderson (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
- Rosenwald Fund helped launch Tuskegee Flight-Training Program (rosenwaldfilm.org)
- Charles Alfred Anderson, part 2 (Palm Springs Air Museum)
- Charles A. Anderson (Encyclopedia of Alabama), on the myth that Black people did not fly
