RSSThe Midwest: A History Lesson [Updated]
May 11th, 2008 | View Comments
This is what’s on the front page of the Washington Post right now:
It’s totally crass to be complaining about this given that people died, but Oklahoma is not a Midwestern state!!! And you can argue about Missouri.
I’m a Midwestern girl born and bred. Since I moved away, it’s become pretty obvious to me that the vast majority of people in media have no clue about the Midwest. So here’s a lesson.
The term “Midwest” refers to the states that were part of the Old Northwest Territory. After the westward expansion took us past the Mississippi River, this area ceased being the Northwest of the country and people started calling it the Middle-West, or Midwest. The Old Northwest Territory included Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and part of Minnesota. These six states make up the Midwest.
Most of the states to the west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies were acquired during the Louisiana Purchase. And most of those states are part of the Great Plains and are thus referred to as Plains States.
I can grudgingly accept Iowa and Missouri as Midwestern states even though they weren’t part of the Old Northwest Territory because they’re not far enough west to really be part of the Great Plains. This acceptance is particularly grudging in Missouri’s case because part of Missouri properly belongs to the South, which is a whole different can of worms, historically and culturally.
But Oklahoma is clearly a Plains State (if not, then it’s part of the South) and referring to it as part of the Midwest is…BAH!
Updated May 11 @ 8pm
The front page now says this:
Thank you, invisible hand of correct geography.
Yvonne posted this on May 11th, 2008 @ 2:11am in News/Politics, Wisconsin | Permalink to "The Midwest: A History Lesson [Updated]"
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2. Ryan » May 11th, 2008 at 3:02 am
*sigh*
3. Yvonne » May 11th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
And now apparently Georgia is a Midwestern state.
GEORGIA.
4. Peter » May 11th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
The problem can be summed up by Miss Teen South Carolina. As she so eloquently stated: “I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh…people out there in our nation don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and…I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our…”
5. Your name » May 11th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Georgia is in the midwest….Gaaaaaaawd!
A few days ago hubby was watching some quiz show. There was a question about which city in British Columbia would be hosting the Olympics.
Every single contestant named a US city, and seemed to have to clue that BC is a Canadian Province.
6. Tina » May 11th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
OOoops! That was me in the above comment 
1. Tina » May 11th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Part of the problem is that schools stopped teaching geography many years ago, so now we have people in the media that have no clue where things are located in their own country!
Back in my day geography was taught as a subject in and of it’s own during elementary school, and in middle school 7th grade Social Studies was nothing but geography.
Now we have people that can’t pick out states on a map and cannot name state capitals, the Great Lakes etc. etc. etc.
Sad but true.