Oxford, Mississippi

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE

         Oxford is a little town in the central parts of Mississippi founded in 1837. It was actually named “Oxford” because its residents encouraged a center for leaning and hoped to someday have a university built there, which later turned out to be the University of Mississippi. According to USA Today, it is currently one of the top 6 college towns in the nation. William T. Sherman ripped through the town during the Civil War and many of its most historical buildings were lost. It is truly a tragic story how Sherman was actually in love with the South but had a duty to destroy it. He was an extremely troubled man who felt that the South deserved to be cherished but of course, he was with the North. After the war was over, the town was left alone to be recovered slowly but surely. Eventually, there were a number of freed black slaves who moved into the town, which contributed much to its reconstruction. They lifted the town up and reintroduced churches, businesses, houses, schools, and other now historic settings. William Faulkner attended the University of Mississippi in the year 1919 and dropped out in 1920. Although he wasn’t very good at school, his writing surpassed everything else he did. The region itself influenced Faulkner greatly, along with the social issues between Whites and Blacks. The old Oxford, Mississippi provided Faulkner with a front seat perspective of the ways the South and many of his characters revolve around people he would encounter in this small town. Today, Oxford still holds on to the atmosphere that Faulkner aspired to write about. Although racial issues are not as serious as they used to be, the people of this town still hold on to the southern lifestyle. According to the US Census, it has a population of 16,706 as of 2009 with 72.3 percent White and 21.8 percent African American residents. It is know to be a very nice place to live, according to online blogs of people who have lived there. One person wrote: “So why Oxford ? Why in a Mississippi town of about 19,000 are people willing to pay more than $300 per square foot for a house or townhome? Because Oxford is a destination. I can’t think of another place in Mississippi people flock to with the same level of anticipation as they do to Oxford . Like New York City in a Martin Scorsese movie or “the woods” in a Washington Irving tale, Oxford , itself, is a character. It is Yoknapatawpha. Like the “Big Apple” or the “Big Easy,” when you are in Oxford , you know you are in Oxford . You could not be anywhere else. First time visitors to Oxford coming from North or South Lamar often remark about the beauty of Oxford and that the town is “surprisingly cosmopolitan” to be “in the middle of nowhere.” After visiting Oxford , even die hard Gator fans have proclaimed (rather than confided) that Oxford is “the coolest place on earth,” and have vowed to return.”     

Sources: (Wikipedia)

1.            "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.

2.            Jack Lamar Mayfield. Oxford and Ole Miss. Arcadia Publishing, 2009, p. 7.

3.             Freedmen Town, Lafayette County, History Markers of Mississippi, accessed 30 May                     2008

4.            http://www.oxfordmississippi.com/oxford-is-cool/     

Places to see:

• University of Mississippi
• Rowan Oak, Home of William Faulkner
• Oxford City Hall
• Barnard Observatory
• Fat Possum Records
• Surrounding landscape/farms and plantations

   Upon stepping foot in Oxford, Mississippi, it is easy to see the richness of the South in just this town as William Faulkner saw, and conjured up stories of it. The importance of the relationship between the people and the land is made clear by Faulkner in several ways throughout his literary works. In As I Lay Dying, Addie Bundren makes it clear to her family that she must be buried in the town of Jefferson. The journey that they take to fulfill her request ends up more of a sacrifice the family must be willing to take. Faulkner expresses his love for the American South and believes that the land has an important role in almost every aspect of southern life.  

Maps of Jefferson, Mississippi from Faulkner's novel Absolum, Absolum!

Links worth visiting:

http://www.rowanoak.com/photos.html

http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/william_faulkner2/

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2710348?uid=3739920&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698965696697