Alabama (1819, #22)

ACHILLES HEEL: race relations

HOMETOWN HERO: Emma Sansom, because she knew the way across the river, and refused to allow fear of physical danger, her teenage years or “fairer” sex prevent her from saddling up to the aid of a military man in need of help.

Alaska (1959, #49)

ACHILLES HEEL: gold

HOMETOWN HERO: Skookum Jim, because he was one hundred percent reliable, faithful to his mission (carrying supplies for miners, in order to make his humble living), and proud of his native heritage.

Arizona (1912, #48)

ACHILLES HEEL: the lost state of Montezuma

HOMETOWN HERO: Sedona Arabella Schnebly, because she founded a city and immodestly named it after her own radiant self.

Arkansas (1836, #25)

ACHILLES HEEL: Little Rock Nine

HOMETOWN HERO: Tandy Washington Coggs, because he devoted his life to the assistance of young black males who had lost their way, were dropped by the system and/or their families, and had few alternatives, a legacy heightened by our knowledge that one of two institutes he founded was the victim of vicious arson, charred to ruins with youth left inside to perish (doors blocked to exit from the outside).

California (1850, #31)

ACHILLES HEEL: se habla español

HOMETOWN HERO: Jack London, because he was a lover and fighter, and dreamt of bigger things.

Colorado (1876, #38)

ACHILLES HEEL: legal weed

HOMETOWN HERO: Owl Woman, because she held down the fort (however “bent") until her dying day, and wouldn’t let the winds of change push her to despair.

Connecticut (1788, #5)

ACHILLES HEEL: nutmeg

HOMETOWN HERO: Emma Willard, because of her contributions to pedagogy, and authorship of a “guide to the temple of time.”

Delaware (1787, #1)

ACHILLES HEEL: age

HOMETOWN HERO: Mary Ann Shadd, because of her antebellum conviction that in order to improve the plight of black Americans, everybody must do more with less talk, after which she founded a freeman’s paper focused on “abolition of slavery, temperance, and general literature.”

Florida (1845, #27)

ACHILLES HEEL: white Latinos

HOMETOWN HERO: John Gorrie, because he had all the heart, spirit, and fanciful imagination to pour into modeling and design of a first refrigeration device prototype, with none of the practical ingenuity required to make it a marketable success.