Name a state in the South that lacks a city, town, or county honoring Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
I’ll wait.
The atlas says Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, and Florida all have places named Lafayette (or in some cases LaFayette). In Alabama, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Arkansas you’ll find Fayettes or Fayettevilles. (Congratulations if you said South Carolina, which is inexplicably devoid of such a tribute, though the state does have plenty of Lafayette streets.)
The Marquis de Lafayette, you’ll no doubt recall from middle school history, was a French aristocrat who became a hero in the American Revolution—he was just nineteen when he arrived here and acquitted himself with distinction on fields of battle. He was held in such esteem…
