When I was in the eighth grade, I was required to take two classes that were both one semester long. The first was a Civics class that was focused on teaching the basics of U.S. Citizenship and how the United States worked. The second semester, the class changed its focus to the State Of Mississippi. We learned about our state legislature, the local governance, and Mississippi history. It was one of my first formal exposures to my responsibilities as a citizen and the pride of being a resident of the Great State Of Mississippi.

I’m not sure if schools still teach Civics or State classes like that, but if not, then it is a sad thing because if kids do not learn the things to be proud about in their Country and their State, then how can they be expected to have enough pride in where they live to try and make it better. That’s one of the underlying reasons for the MadeInMississippi.us website in the first place. I wanted to build a website where people could come and browse for hours and learn about the greatness of Mississippi.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Anyway, when I was in my State Civics class, one of the first things we had to do was memorize the names of all eighty-two counties and then recite them back to the class. I’m not sure if the memorization had any impact on my understanding of the state, but I can tell you for certain that it made me more aware of the wide variety of lifestyles that occur naturally within the arbitrary political lines that separate us.

From the deep gullies of Adams County to the flat, alluvial plain of Sunflower County to the gulf shores of Harrison County to the low hills of Lauderdale County; the land itself influences the people who live there in ways that we can scarcely imagine. Generations of writers from William Faulkner to Eudora Welty to Willie Morris to John Grisham to Greg Iles have all spent thousands of words and pages trying to explain the impact of this soil on its people.

There’s no way I can convey in this short article the depth of the roots of the people who are born and raised here. Nor can I explain any part of what I’m trying to describe. People who were born and raised here know instinctively what I’m trying to say, but words are such fickle things they come in floods and yet still fail to adequately convey my meaning.

The best possible reaction to this post would be for people to post their feelings or descriptions of the county they were born and raised in below in the comment section and then we could all work together to give a more complete picture of the life, the land and the people that live in eighty-two separate counties that collectively make up the Great State Of Mississippi.

Here’s the full list of all the State Counties (click here to learn more):

Map Courtesy of Digital-Topo-Maps.com