Mississippi Expat: William Ferris

"While my home is geographically in the state of Mississippi, it also exists inside me as a spiritual presence that sets it apart from the state in which it is located."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Today we hear from the founder of the field of Southern Studies and the region’s most important folklorist, William Ferris.

Featured contributor William Ferris. Photo courtesy of the author.

Where are you from?

Vicksburg.

When did you move away from Mississippi? Why did you leave? 

I first moved away in the fall of 1957 when I entered Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, at the age of fifteen.

What does “home” mean to you? 

“Home” for me is the farm where I grew up, where I learned the smell and feel of changing seasons, where familiar voices of family and neighbors, of animals, birds, and insects were constantly in my ears, where I return each day in my mind to revisit the people and place that shaped me so deeply. 

Drawing on forty years’ worth of the author’s interviews, The Storied South features the voices of twenty-six Southern artists and thinkers—including Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, William Eggleston, Bobby Rush, and C. Vann Woodward.

How does Mississippi fit into that definition? 

While my home is geographically in the state of Mississippi, it also exists inside me as a spiritual presence that sets it apart from the state in which it is located.

What do you miss most about Mississippi?

I miss the warmth of people whose voices and interaction with each other offer a kindness and care that are both familiar and nurturing.

How have you cultivated community in the place where you live now? 

I cultivate community where I now live—Chapel Hill, North Carolina—with tools I learned as a child—to respect all people, regardless of their background.

The author and his wife Marcie Cohen Ferris at their home in Chapel Hill. Photo by Donn Young.