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

The new Flag of Mississippi features a white magnolia blossom and the words “In God We Trust” on a red field with a gold-bordered blue pale. This flag was chosen by the Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag and was approved by state referendum on November 3, 2020. Afterward, it was passed by the state legislature on January 6, 2021, and became the official state flag of the U.S. state of Mississippi on January 11, 2021.

The previous Flag of the State of Mississippi was adopted by the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1894, replacing the flag that had been adopted in 1861.

In 2000 after a fair amount of controversy regarding the State’s flag which included the Confederate Flag in the canton corner, the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled that state legislation in 1906 had repealed the adoption of the state flag in 1894, so what was considered to be the official state flag was only so through custom and usage.

On January 12, 2001, Governor David Ronald (Ronnie) Musgrove signed House Bill No. 524. This bill was precipitated by a series of design proposals intended to remove the representation of the Confederate battle flag from the canton corner of the current State flag. Some Mississippians were offended by the official design and proposed a new design they thought would be more acceptable to the entire populace of the State. The legislature and the Governor decided to put an end to the controversy over the State flag and passed a law that would put the design of the Mississippi State Flag to a vote. This vote would determine whether the State flag that had flown over Mississippi for 107 years would continue to fly over the State or whether a new design would be raised over the State capitol. The vote was scheduled for April 17, 2001. [Source]

From Wikipedia: “The proposal would have replaced the Confederate battle flag with a blue canton with 20 stars. The outer ring of 13 stars would represent the original Thirteen Colonies, the ring of six stars would represent the six nations that have had sovereignty over Mississippi territory (various Native American nations as a collective nation, French Empire, Spanish Empire, Great Britain, the United States and the Confederate States), and the inner and slightly larger star would represent Mississippi itself. The 20 stars would also represent Mississippi’s status as the 20th member of the United States.

The new flag was soundly defeated in a vote of 64% (488,630 votes) to 36% (267,812) and the old flag was retained.”

The pledge to the state flag is:

I salute the flag of Mississippi and the sovereign state for which it stands with pride in her history and achievements and with confidence in her future under the guidance of Almighty God.

—Mississippi Code Ann., Section 37-13-7, 1972

Adopted in 1798 (when Mississippi was still a U.S. territory), the great seal of Mississippi displays an eagle with spread wings and a shield with stars and stripes centered on its chest. The eagle clasps an olive branch and arrows in its talons (symbols of peace and strength).

The eagle is proudly positioned in the center of the seal, with its wings spread wide and its head held high. A bunting of stars and stripes adorns its chest. In its talons, the eagle grasps an olive branch symbolizing a desire for peace and a quiver of arrows representing the power to wage war. The outer circle of the seal holds the words “The Great Seal of the State of Mississippi”.

From Wikipedia:

The name Teddy Bear comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who was commonly known as “Teddy” (though he loathed being referred to as such). The name originated from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Sharkey County, Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt’s attendants, led by Holt Collier, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.

Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read “Teddy’s bear,” after sending a bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to use his name. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.

Early teddy bears were made to look like real bears, with extended snouts and beady eyes. Modern teddy bears tend to have larger eyes and foreheads and smaller noses, babylike features that enhance the toy’s cuteness. Teddy bears are also manufactured to represent different species of bear, such as polar bears and grizzly bears, as well as pandas.

While early teddy bears were covered in tawny mohair fur, modern teddy bears are manufactured in a wide variety of commercially available fabrics, most commonly synthetic fur, but also velour, denim, cotton, satin, and canvas.

The committee to design a Coat of Arms was appointed by legislative action February 7, 1894, and the design proposed by that committee was accepted and became the official Coat of Arms. The committee recommended for the Coat of Arms a “Shield in color blue, with an eagle upon it with extended pinions, holding in the right talon a palm branch and a bundle of arrows in the left talon, with the word “Mississippi” above the eagle; the lettering on the shield and the eagle to be in gold; below the shield two branches of the cotton stalk, saltier-wise, as in submitted design, and a scroll below extending upward and one each side three-fourths of the length of the shield; upon the scroll, which is to be red, the motto be printed in gold letters upon white spaces, as in design accompanying, the motto to be –VIRTUTE et ARMIS” which means by valor and arms.

Mississippi’s Official State Bird is the Mockingbird, but the mockingbird is also the Official State Bird of Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

The Mississippi Federation of Women’s Clubs selected the mockingbird as their club bird and lobbied the state to adopt the mockingbird as the official state bird of Mississippi.

The bill to designate the mockingbird the official state bird of Mississippi was approved in the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously. The legislation was signed by the Governor on February 23, 1944.