Culture of the Southern United States
Encyclopedia
The Culture of the Southern United States, or Southern Culture, is a subculture
of the United States that is perhaps America's most distinct, in the minds both of its residents and of those in other parts of the country. The combination of its unique history and the fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate from the rest of the country has led to its being the most studied and written about region of the United States.
Southern culture has been and remains generally more socially conservative
than that of the rest of the country. Because of the central role of agriculture in the antebellum
economy, society remained stratified according to land ownership, and communities often developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.
From its many cultural influences, the South developed its own unique customs, literature
, cuisine and musical styles (such as country music
, bluegrass
, rockabilly
, southern gospel
, jazz
, blues
and rock and roll
).
. In the 17th century, most were of Southern English
origins, mostly from regions such as Kent
, East Anglia
and the West Country who settled mostly on the coastal regions of the South but pushed as far inland as the Appalachian mountains by the 18th century. In the 18th century, large groups of Scots lowlanders
, Northern English
and Ulster-Scots
(later called the Scots-Irish) settled in Appalachia
and the Piedmont
. They were often called "crackers
" by upper class neighbors. As one wrote, "I should explain… what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." Most Southerners today are of partial or majority English
and Scots-Irish ancestry. In previous census's an overwhelming majority of Southerners identified as being of English
or mostly English
ancestry with 19,618,370 self-identifying as "English" on the 1980 census, followed by 3,679,277 identifying as German
or mostly German
. It should also be noted that those who did identify themselves of German ancestry were almost exclusively found in the northern border areas of the region which are adjacent to the American Mid-West. Those from the Tidewater
area identified themselves almost exclusively as of English
origins, while those from the Piedmont areas were a mixture of English
, Scotch-Irish and Irish
origins. South Georgia has a large Irish presence, the ancestors of whom were largely at one time Roman Catholic; however many were converted to various Protestant sects due to the lack of a missionary presence of the Catholic
church in the 18th and 19th centuries. The predominance of Irish surnames in South Georgia has been noted by American historians for some time.
The other primary population group in the South is made up of the African American
descendants of the slaves brought into the South. African Americans comprise the United States' second-largest racial minority, accounting for 12.1 percent of the total population according to the 2000 census. Despite Jim Crow
era outflow to the North (see Great Migration (African American)
), the majority of the black population has remained concentrated in the southern states, and blacks have been returning to the South in large numbers since the end of formal segregation (see New Great Migration
). African Americans in the South have transmitted their foods, music (see "negro spirituals"), art, and charismatic brand of Christianity to white Southerners, and the rest of the nation.
Other ethnic groups established communities in the American South. For examples are the German American
population of the Edwards Plateau
of Texas
, whose ancestors arrived in the region in the 1840s. German cultural influence continues to be felt in cities like New Braunfels, Texas
near Austin
and San Antonio
. . Much of the population of Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and Alabama traces its primary ancestry to French colonists of the 18th century. Also important is the French community of New Orleans, Louisiana
dating back to the 1880s, while the city and nearby Gulf Coast area also attracted waves of Chinese
or Filipino
immigrants and Vietnamese
refugees in the late 20th century.
", because of the prevalence there of evangelical
Protestantism
and sometimes conservative Catholicism
. Some cities such as Atlanta, Birmingham
, Charlotte
, Charleston
, Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis
, Louisville
, Tampa
and Houston also have significant Jewish
, and in some of the latter, significant Islamic communities
. Immigrants from Southeast Asia
and South Asia
have brought Buddhism
and Hinduism
to the region as well. (For more information, see Charles Reagan Wilson, Southern Spaces, March 16, 2004). Most Southerners attend church on a regular basis.
Early on, the South was influenced by masses of religious revivals often instigated by local lay ministers or others itinerants, as well as "circuit-riders" and other trained ministers that made their way South as traveling preachers from New England. Before the Revolution, some Virginians became Baptists, and the issue of religious freedom was being struggled over. In 1765, Elijah Craig
and other young men who became fervent Baptists in Fredericksburg, Virginia
, were arrested for preaching without licenses from the Anglican Church. They were defended by Patrick Henry
. The young James Madison
also represented Baptist preachers in Virginia when he finished law school, and took his thinking about religious freedom to the Constitutional Convention
after the Revolution. (Elijah Craig took hundreds of followers with him through the mountains into Kentucky, where they settled near what became Lexington
and established churches and the first Baptist association in Kentucky.)
After the Revolution, the Anglican Church was dis-established, and the Episcopal Church
of the United States was created. The Revolution turned more people toward Methodist and Baptist preachers in the South. The Cane Ridge Revival and subsequent "camp-meetings" on the Kentucky and Tennessee frontiers was the impetus behind the Restoration Movement. Traveling preachers used music and song to convert new members. Shape-note singing became a fundamental part of camp meetings in frontier regions. In the early decades of the 18th century, the Baptists in the South reduced their challenge to class and race. Rather than pressing for freedom for slaves, they encouraged planters to improve treatment of them, and ultimately used the Bible to justify slavery.
In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention
separated from other regions. Baptist and Methodist churches proliferated across the Tidewater region, usually attracting common planters, artisans and workers. The wealthiest planters continued to be affiliated with the Episcopal Church. By the beginning of the Civil War, the Baptist
and Methodist churches had attracted the most members in the South, and their churches were most numerous in the region. Today, probably more than any other region of any developed nation, the South has a high concentration of evangelical and fundamentalist Christian
adherents.
Historically Catholic colonists were primarily those from Spain and France, who settled in coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Today, there are significant Roman Catholic populations along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico (especially the port cities of New Orleans, Biloxi
, Pensacola
and Mobile
), which preserve the continuing (and broadly popularized) Catholic traditions of Carnival
at the beginning of Lent in Mardi Gras
parades and related customs. Elsewhere in the region, Catholics are a small minority and of mainly Irish and French or modern Hispanic ancestry.
Atlanta, in contrast to other Southern
cities, contains a large, and rapidly growing, Roman Catholic population. The number of Catholics grew from 292,300 members in 1998 to 900,000 members in 2010, an increase of 207 percent. The population is expected to top 1 million by 2011. The increase is fueled by Catholics moving to Atlanta from other parts of the U.S. and the world, and from newcomers to the church. About 16 percent of all metropolitan Atlanta residents are Catholic, comparable to many of Midwestern
metropolitan areas.
In general, the inland regions of the Deep South and Upper South, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama were less attractive to immigrants and have stronger concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ and other Protestants. Eastern and northern Texas are heavily Protestant, while the southern parts of the state have Mexican-American Catholic majorities.
The city of Charleston, South Carolina
has had a significant Jewish population since the colonial period. The first were Sephardic Jews who had been living in London or on the island of Barbados. They were connected to Jewish communities in New England as well. The community figured prominently in the history of South Carolina
. Richmond
also had a Sephardic Jewish community before the Revolution. They built the first synagogue in Virginia about 1791. New Orleans also historically (and in the present day) has a significant Jewish community.
The South Florida
area is home to the nation's second largest concentration of Jewish Americans outside New York, most of them early 20th century migrants and descendants from the Northeast. They were descendants of Ashkenazi Jews from Germany, Russia, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Twentieth century migration and business development have brought significant Jewish
and Muslim
communities to most major business and university cities, such as Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and more recently, Charlotte.
Southern American English is a group of dialect
s of the English language
spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States
, from West Virginia
and Kentucky
to the Gulf Coast, and from the mid-Atlantic
coast to throughout most of Texas
and Oklahoma
.
Southern dialects make up the largest accent group in the United States. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between regions. African American Vernacular English
(AAVE) shares similarities with Southern dialect due to African American
s' strong historical ties to the region.
It has been said that Southerners are most easily distinguished from other Americans by their speech, both in terms of accent and idiom. However, there is no single "Southern Accent." Rather, Southern American English is a collection of dialect
s of the English
spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between, for example, that of Appalachian region
and the coastal "low country" around Charleston, South Carolina
. For example, Southerners in the Arkansas region emphasize the long "I" sound, whereas those in Mississippi accentuate their O's to sound more like "ew"s. Folklorists in the 1920s and later argued that because of the region' isolation, Appalachian language patterns more closely mirrored Elizabethan English
than other accents in the United States. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English
(AAVE), shares many similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given that group's strong historical ties to the South.
While traces of African language remain in AAVE, there are a few distinctively African dialect groups in the South, the Gullah
the most famous among them.
Gullah
is still spoken by some African Americans in the Low Country of South Carolina, Georgia and Northeast Florida, particularly the older generation. Also called Geechee in Georgia, the language and a strongly African culture developed because of the people's relative isolation in large communities, and continued importation of slaves from the same parts of Africa. As the enslaved people on large plantations were relatively undisturbed by whites, Gullah developed as a creole language, based on African forms. Similarly the people kept many African forms in religious rituals, foodways
and similar transportable culture, all influenced by the new environment in the colonies. Other, less known African American dialect groups are the rural blacks of the Mississippi Basin, and Africantown near Mobile, Alabama, where the last known ship to arrive in the Americas with slaves was abandoned in 1860.
There are several other unique linguistic enclaves in the American South. Among them is that of Tangier Island, Virginia, as well as the Outer Banks
, which some scholars claim preserves a unique English dialect from the colonial period. The New Orleans or "Yat"
dialect is similar to Northeastern port city accents because of an influx of German and Irish immigrants similar to those of the Northeast. Many are familiar with the French-based Cajun French
that is spoken in the southern half of Louisiana
.
Other distinct languages include Cajun French
(Louisiana), and Isleño Spanish (Louisiana, see also Canarian Spanish
).
The US South also contains many indigenous languages from the Native American Muskogean, Caddoan, Siouan–Catawban, Iroquoian, Algonquian
, Yuchi
, Chitimacha
, Natchez
, Tunica
, Adai, Timucua
and Atakapa
families. The historical record seems to suggest a picture of great linguistic diversity (similar to California) although most languages mentioned were not documented. Several southeastern languages have become extinct
and all are endangered
. Historical language contact
among Native Americans developed into a southeastern Sprachbund
. The influence of native languages has led to distinct Indian varieties of English.
Among the variations found in Southern culture are:
). However, this depends on the area of the state. For example, while the culturally-Southern Florida Panhandle counts for only 7% of the state's population, largely non-Southern South Florida accounts for a full third of the state's population, with Miami-Dade County
(where a majority of residents were born outside of the United States) alone having approximately twice as many residents as the entire Panhandle. North Floridians commonly are staunch defenders of their southern heritage, often noting that they were the third state after South Carolina and Mississippi to secede from the Union prior to the US Civil War and also that Tallahassee
was the only capital east of the Mississippi never captured by Union forces during the war, solidifying their placement within traditional southern culture. Florida and Oklahoma are the only two states in the Census-defined South in which the largest ancestry group is German-American, as opposed to the "American" ancestry that is most common in the South among whites; in this manner, these states more closely resemble states of the Midwest and Mountain West than they do Southern states. While Southern American English
is the dominant dialect across the entire South, this accent is largely absent from South Florida unlike certain areas in the western, northern, and central regions of the state and other rural areas. The religious composition of Florida is also highly atypical for the South; Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas are the only Census-defined Southern states in which Catholics outnumber Southern Baptists, and Florida has the largest Jewish population by a significant margin among Census-defined Southern states.
The least "Southern" part of the state is South Florida, which has been transformed by the rapid influx of Northern migrants and immigration from (especially) Latin America
and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Miami-Dade County is the only county in the entire United States in which a majority (51.4%) of residents were born outside of the country, with Broward
, Palm Beach
and Monroe
counties all having far more transplanted residents than native-born Floridians. The northern, central and rural areas are more "southern", with such areas as most of Central Florida
, the Florida Panhandle
, and the Florida Heartland
demonstrating the typical Southern culture (i.e. the South is in the North).
, Kentucky
demonstrates multiple cultural influences. A study in the 1990s revealed that 79% of Kentuckians agreed they were living within the south. The study also showed that 84 percent of Texans, and 82 percent of Virginians believe they live in the south. Between 80–90% of residents in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and the Carolinas described themselves as southerners. This is likely because regional identification often varies dramatically within Kentucky. For example, many consider northern Kentucky
to be the most Midwestern region as it shares culture with Cincinnati. Studies show that a significant minority of people in Northern Kentucky still identify with the South. Conversely, southern Ohio and southern Indiana
are highly Southern in comparison to most of the Midwest, as is the "little Egypt" region of southern Illinois.
Some sources treat Southern Indiana as essentially the upper tip of Upland South culture while others maintain that Southern culture, while significant, is not dominant in the region. Louisville is viewed as culturally and economically Midwestern in some analyses, because it rapidly industrialized during the late 19th century (although not to the same extent as most northern cities), as opposed to the slow industrialization that occurred in the South. Other observers consider Louisville to be southern culturally, due to dialect and various other aspects of culture. It is often described as both "the Gateway to the South" and "the northernmost Southern city and southernmost Northern city." Unlike the remainder of the state, Louisville, Covington, and Newport received large amounts of German immigrants due to manufacturing interests on the Ohio river, thus making the culture there somewhat distinct from the rest of the state. Had Kentucky been a free-state, prior to the Civil War, it would have likely drawn more German immigration, as there was usually a relatively small number of slaves in the areas where Germans did settle.
While varying degrees of southern cultural influence can be found in Kentucky inside the Cincinnati area and Louisville, smaller cities such as Owensboro
, Bowling Green
, Hopkinsville
and Paducah
, together with most of the state's rural areas, have continued to be more distinctly Southern in character. Outside of those two specific areas, southern culture, dialect, mannerisms, etc. are prominent. Southern cuisine is quite common across the state. Western Kentucky is famous for a regional style of southern barbecue, and other forms of southern food such as catfish, country ham, greens beans etc. can also be found. Today most of the state, outside of Northern Kentucky, shares a cultural identity with Tennessee and the rest of the Upland South in ancestry, dialect, and various other aspects of culture.
In most contexts, especially culturally, the state is grouped as part of the south.
and Spain
rather than Great Britain, a difference which gave it a different form of law and other distinct cultural traditions. The French
, Spanish
, Cajun
, Creole
, African and Caribbean-influenced culture is especially strong in the southern portion of the state. Coastal Mississippi
and Mobile, Alabama
were both part of colonial Louisiana and both areas retain strong traces of Louisiana culture which is present in local cuisine such as gumbo and local celebrations such as Mardi Gras
. Beaumont, Texas
was not originally a part of Louisiana but was settled by many Cajuns from Louisiana who relocated there in the early 1900s to take jobs in the oil fields. These areas are all considered as "culturally Louisiana."
In the antebellum years, a significant population of free people of color
or Creoles of color
, as opposed to White Creoles known as French Creoles, had formed in New Orleans, in part because of the system of plaçage
that developed since the colonial period. Many became educated, had their own businesses and owned property. They formed a distinct third class between Europeans Americans and enslaved Africans, although their freedoms were reduced after the Louisiana Purchase and imposition of Americans' binary racial views. Together with the cosmopolitan views of an international seaport, Roman Catholics in metropolitan New Orleans had relatively tolerant attitudes toward alcohol use, gambling, and prostitution in contrast to the outwardly conservative evangelical Protestant beliefs of many in the Deep South.
. The state's metropolitan areas, notably that of the Research Triangle, have a more liberal tendency, while the rural piedmont, coastal and appalachian regions remain strongly conservative.
Many new residents have come for work from the North and Midwest, especially from the New York City and Cleveland metropolitan areas. The Charlotte
and Raleigh
-Durham
areas have attracted the most new residents because of economic growth: banking/finance in Charlotte; universities and high-tech in Raleigh-Durham. The Asheville
area has attracted more retirees.
In addition to Northerners, the job markets in North Carolina's three largest metropolitan regions — Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and the Greensboro
-Winston-Salem
-High Point
Piedmont Triad
— have also attracted large and growing Latino
and Asian American immigration and migration. A report released by the Brookings Institute in May 2006 entitled Diversity Spreads Out, noted that the Charlotte metro area ranked second nationally with a 49.8% growth rate in its Hispanic population between 2000 and 2004. The Raleigh-Durham metro area followed in third place with a 46.7% rate of growth.
is part of the South as defined by the Census Bureau
(see map near beginning of article) but, culturally, it is more of a transition zone from the South to the West. Before being admitted as a state in 1907, Oklahoma was known as "Indian Territory." It was the site where Indian tribes were relocated after having been removed from areas east of the Mississippi River, most of them from the South. Primary among those removed to Oklahoma were the "Five Civilized Tribes" including the Seminoles, Creeks, Chickisaws, Choctaws and Cherokees. The majority of the Native American
tribes in Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War, in part because many of them had slaveholding members. Oklahoma maintained a non-voting delegate in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War. Due to the mass-migrations into Oklahoma during the late 1800s by non-Southern whites, much of its original Southern cultural character became diluted. Still, parts of Oklahoma are known as "Little Dixie" today due to the strong Southern cultural ties and characteristics found there.
Oklahoma has the nation's largest Native American population. Its cultural heritage is both southern and western. Oklahoma is home of the Gilcrease Museum
, which houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West. This includes Native American art and artifacts and historical manuscripts, documents and maps. Oklahoma is sometimes described as being part of the "Great Southwest". Because of its geographic location, eastern Oklahoma is more connected to Southern culture.
), Texas' modern-day relationship to the rest of the South is often a subject of debate and discussion. It has been described as "a Southern state, certainly, yet not completely in or of the South." With a history of Southern settlement and cotton plantations, East Texas
, North Texas
and parts of Central Texas, are more associated with the South than the Southwest
. On the other hand, in terms of geology, economy, and culture, parts of West Texas
, Central Texas and South Texas
share more similarities with the Southwest. Major cities like Austin
and Houston
have large numbers of Northern and West Coast transplants, and thus, less Southern-like culture.
The upper Texas Panhandle
and the South Plains
areas of West Texas do not easily fit into either category. The former has much in common both culturally and geographically with Midwestern states like Kansas and Nebraska. The South Plains, though originally settled primarily by Anglo Southerners, has become a blend of both Southern and Southwestern culture due to rapidly increasing Hispanic population.
The size and cultural distinctiveness of Texas prohibit easy categorization of the entire state in any recognized region. Geographic, economic and cultural diversity among regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right. The larger cities of Texas with their burgeoning knowledge-based economies have attracted migrants from other regions of the United States and immigrants from Latin America and Asia. However, partly due to its membership in the Confederacy
, and the fact much of the state is in the Bible Belt
, it is usually considered more of a Southern state rather than a Western one. Also, linguistic maps of Texas place most of the state within the spheres of upper, mid- and Gulf- Southern dialects, helping to further identify the state as being Southern (use of Southern colloquialisms such as y'all and ain't are still very much widespread in Texas).
has attracted many internal migrants coming for job opportunities with the federal government and related businesses during and after World War II, due to the emergence and expansion of the Northeast Megalopolis
. More expansion resulted from the dot-com bubble
around the turn of the 21st century. Economically linked to Washington, D.C., residents of the northern part of the state tend to consider its culture more Mid-Atlantic than Southern. Some in Virginia refer to the area as "Occupied Virginia." The rest of the state is considered more southern in culture, with its capital, Richmond, also having served as the capital of the Confederacy.
Overall, however, based on a study from the late 1990s, 82% of Virginians believe they live in the south and most identify more with the South than with any other region.
in 1863 underlined the old divide between the highlands and the rest of the South. While West Virginia is classified by the Census Bureau as a southern state, its peculiar geographic shape means that the northernmost tip is at about the same latitude as central New Jersey
. The northernmost part of the state
, as well as a number of northern non-panhandle cities, such as Morgantown
, about an hour's drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, have become exurbs
of the former industrial city, resulting in a less "Southern" culture.
The easternmost tip of the state
is close enough to Washington, D.C.
that it is becoming an exurb of that area with a unique North-South "hybrid" culture. The Census Bureau classifies the two easternmost counties, Berkeley
and Jefferson
, as part of the larger Washington Metropolitan Area
.
Huntington
, near the state's boundary with Ohio
and Kentucky, is sometimes identified with the Rust Belt
. It has more of a Southern climate and environment compared to the state's Northern Panhandle and North-Central
regions.
Lastly, Bluefield
and other towns on the southern border of West Virginia are less than a 3-hour drive (170 miles) to Charlotte, North Carolina
. They are only an hour and a half (70 miles) to the North Carolina border. For residents of such areas, Charlotte is their closest major city.
West Virginia was created from 50 western counties of Virginia during the Civil War. Although two-thirds of the territory of the proposed state consisted of secessionist counties, the Wheeling Unionists were successful in guiding their statehood bill through Congress. It was signed by President Lincoln. Because of the confusing circumstances of the state's creation, some do not consider West Virginia to be part of the South. People in West Virginia have typically shared ancestry and heritage with the Appalachian culture that extends down the spine of a large swath of the backcountry South.
is classified as a Midwestern state by the Census Bureau and many of its residents. St. Louis was known as the "Gateway to the West" when settlement was expanding. Some observers include the Missouri Ozarks with the Highland South and its predominantly Scots-Irish culture. The northern edge of the Ozark Plateau was settled chiefly by mid- to late 19th century German immigrants, however, who founded numerous vineyards and wineries. Due to this, Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state before Prohibition, which destroyed the industry. Wineries have been rebuilt since the later decades of the 20th century, and Missouri wineries are competing well in national festivals. Part of the Missouri River valley, from beyond St. Louis suburbs in St. Charles County to east of Jefferson City, is known as the Missouri Rhineland
because of the extensive vineyards and wineries based on German immigrant tradition and descendants.
In the antebellum years, many settlers from Upper South states such as Virginia and Kentucky migrated to the counties of central and western Missouri along the Missouri River, where they could cultivate tobacco and hemp. Because these southerners brought their culture and slaveholding with them, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slaveholding state. In modern times, this area became known as Little Dixie
. Before the Civil War
, six of the counties included in this area had populations in which more than 25% were enslaved African Americans, the highest concentrations in the state outside the cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Antebellum houses typical of the South still stand in some of Little Dixie, although for the most part all of Little Dixie is considered to be Midwestern by modern standards. All the crops grown there today are corn, soybeans and wheat, of which the area was far more suited than for Southern crops like cotton, hemp or tobacco, the latter three of which essentially ceased their presence there after the Civil War along with the dominance of Southern culture. However, the Missouri bootheel is still very much culturally southern.
, Arizona
and California
were predominantly settled by European American southerners as they moved west in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For instance, pro-Confederate governments were established in what is now Arizona and New Mexico during the Civil War and, at one point, southern California was on the cusp of breaking away from northern California and joining the Confederacy.
Southerners migrated to industrial cities in the Midwest
for work before and after World War II. They went to Michigan
, Indiana
and Ohio
, as well as Missouri
and Illinois
. During the Great Depression
and Dust Bowl
crisis, a large influx of migrants from areas such as Oklahoma, Arkansas and the Texas Panhandle
settled in California. These "Okie" and "Arkie" migrants and their descendants remain a strong influence on the culture of the Central Valley of California, especially around the cities of Bakersfield
and Fresno
.
More than 6.5 million African Americans left the segregated South for the industrial cities of the Midwest and West Coast
during the Great Migration
, beginning in World War I and extending to 1970. Many migrants from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas moved to California during and after World War II because of jobs in the defense industry. As a result, many African Americans as well as European Americans have "Northern" and "Southern" branches of their families. Significant parts of African-American culture, such as music, literary forms and cuisine, have been rooted in the South but have changed with urban northern and western influences, too.
cereal known as "grits
", cornfritters, cornbread
and brunswick stew
are a few of the more common examples of foods adopted directly from southeastern Indians. Nevertheless, a great many regional varieties have also developed. The variety of cuisines range from Tex-Mex cuisine
, Cajun
and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina, Virginia (which shares strong similarities with North Carolina) and Memphis styles of Barbecue
.
Traditional African American Southern food is often called soul food
. While not typically as spicy as is cajun food, it does tend to use lots of herbs, flour, and can also be called stick-to your ribs food. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese
, Italian
, French
, Middle Eastern
, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, so-called "home cooking" establishments. Some notable "home cooking" meals include: fried chicken
, corn on the cob
, greens with pot liquor, vegetable stew, chicken and dumplings, and chicken fried steak
.
s today originated in the South (Coca-Cola
, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew
, Royal Crown Cola and its related Nehi
products and Dr Pepper
). In many parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Texas and other parts of the South, the term "soft drink" or "soda" is discarded in favor of "Coke" (see Genericized trademark
). Some people use the term "co-cola" when ordering a soft drink. In most restaurants, when someone orders "coke" or "co-cola", it is understood to bring whatever brand of cola the establishment offers. Traditionally, the term "soft drink" was seldom used in the South. Many older southerners call soft drinks "soda water" or "sodi-water" or "sodi-pop"." In addition, there are some soft drinks available only in the South, such as Sun Drop, Cheerwine
, and Ale-8-One
in Kentucky. Buffalo Rock
gingerale a strong, dark gingerale is available and popular in parts of Alabama and Georgia. Blenheim, another southern ginger ale, originated from Northeastern SC (Blenheim) and is also only found in the South. Grapico
is another Southern creation. A supersaturated sweetened iced tea, typically called sweet tea
, is also associated with Southern cuisine. Lemonade
is also a popular summer beverage. In parts of Texas and Kentucky, Big Red
is popularly consumed.
The South has long had a somewhat paradoxically ambivalent attitude toward alcoholic beverages leading to the saying that "The South votes dry and drinks wet". Although the Bible Belt region was in strong support of early 20th-century Prohibition, in the antebellum years, plantation society routinely enjoyed drinks as part of its famous hospitality. Elite classes imported wine from Europe to enjoy, and drinking was often a major part of local festivals and court days. Today, Texas is the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country
.
New Orleans, Louisiana
is known throughout the world as "the city that care forgot", epitomized by the phrase "laissez les bons temps rouler", and where its famous Bourbon Street
celebrations usually involve copious amounts of food and alcoholic drink. Hurricanes are a drink widely associated with the French Quarter
party scene, as well as absinthe, sazerac cocktails and almost every other form of alcohol available.
Official support for Prohibition
existed in the Southern states before and after the 18th Amendment
was in force in the USA. Many southern states are control states that monopolize and highly regulate the distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks. Many counties in the South, particularly outside of larger metropolitan areas, are dry counties that do not allow for alcohol sales in retail outlets. However, many dry counties still allow for "private clubs" (often with low daily fees) to serve alcohol on the premises. Beer is still widely popular in the South, though its consumption is often frowned upon in some religious circles. Lager
s and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the predominantly hot, humid climate. The most popular beers in the south are those produced by Anheuser Busch, particularly Budweiser
and Busch. Cartersville, a suburb of Atlanta, has a massive production facility for Anheuser Busch. Regional brands such as "Dixie" and "Jax" beers of New Orleans, as well as "Pearl" beer of San Antonio, were long-associated with particular parts of the South.
The upper South, specifically Kentucky
, is known for its production of bourbon whiskey
, which is also a popular base for cocktails. Kentucky
is attributed with producing 95% of the world's bourbon
, which is sometime's referred to as America's only native spirit. Congress has established bourbon as such and there are standards of law that the spirit titled 'bourbon' sold in The United States can only be produced in The United States. The Mint julep
is traditionally depicted as a popular beverage among more affluent Southerners. Many other bourbons are produced in Kentucky including: Evan Williams
, Wild Turkey and Bulleit Bourbon. Another form of spirit produced in the South is Tennessee Whiskey, most notably Jack Daniel's
, the number one selling whisky in the world, which is made in Lynchburg, Tennessee
. Another modern brand, George Dickel
, is produced in nearby Tullahoma, Tennessee
. Southern Comfort
is flavored distilled spirit modeled after bourbon, and made in New Orleans, Louisiana
. Due to widespread restrictions on alcohol production, illegally distilled liquor or moonshine
has long been associated (often rather stereotypically) with working class and poor people in much of the region, especially (though by no means exclusively) in southern Appalachia, and this tradition has been represented frequently in popular culture.
is often placed within the pantheon of great Southern writers. Many of his works demonstrate his extensive knowledge of the Mississippi River and the South; also included in his works as a frequent theme were the injustice of slavery and the culture of Protestant public morality.
Perhaps the most famous southern writer of all is William Faulkner
, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex techniques to American writing (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).
Other well-known Southern writers include Edgar Allan Poe
, Joel Chandler Harris
, Sidney Lanier
, Cleanth Brooks
, Pat Conroy
, Zora Neale Hurston
, Eudora Welty
, Thomas Wolfe
, William Styron
, Flannery O'Connor
, Carson McCullers
, James Dickey
, Willie Morris
, Tennessee Williams
, Truman Capote
, Walker Percy
, Barry Hannah
, Alice Walker
, Robert Penn Warren
, Cormac McCarthy
, Katherine Anne Porter
, John Grisham
, James Agee
, Hunter S. Thompson
, Wendell Berry
, Bobbie Ann Mason
, Harry Crews
and the authors known as the Southern Agrarians
.
Possibly the most famous southern novel of the 20th-century is Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
, published in 1937. Another famous southern novel, To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
, won the Pulitzer Prize
after it was published in 1960.
The South's musical history actually starts before the Civil War, with the songs of the African slaves and the traditional folk music brought from Britain
and Ireland
. Blues
was developed in the rural South by African Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music
, spirituals, country music
, rhythm and blues
, soul music
, funk
, rock and roll
, beach music
, bluegrass
, jazz
(including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin
), zydeco
, and Appalachian folk music were either born in the South or developed in the region.
In general, country music is based on the folk music of white Southerners, and blues and rhythm and blues is based on African American southern forms. However, whites and blacks alike have contributed to each of these genres, and there is a considerable overlap between the traditional music of blacks and whites in the South, particularly in gospel music forms. A stylish variant of country music (predominantly produced in Nashville) has been a consistent, widespread fixture of American pop since the 1950s, while insurgent forms (i.e. bluegrass) have traditionally appealed to more discerning sub-cultural and rural audiences. Blues dominated the African American music charts from the advent of modern recording until the mid-1950s, when it was supplanted by the less guttural and forlorn sounds of rock and R&B. Nevertheless, unadulterated blues (along with early rock and roll) is still the subject of reverential adoration throughout much of Europe and cult popularity in isolated pockets of the United States.
Zydeco, Cajun
and swamp pop
, despite having never enjoyed greater regional or mainstream popularity, still thrive throughout French Louisiana
and its peripheries, such as Southeastern Texas. These unique Louisianan styles of folk music
are celebrated as part of the traditional heritage of the people of Louisiana. Conversely, bluegrass music has acquired a sophisticated cachet and distinct identity from mainstream country music through the fusion recordings of artists like Bela Fleck
, David Grisman
, and the New Grass Revival
; traditional bluegrass and Appalachian mountain music experienced a strong resurgence after the release of 2001's O Brother, Where Art Thou?
.
Rock n' roll largely began in the South in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Early rock n' roll musicians from the South include Buddy Holly
, Little Richard
, Fats Domino
, Bo Diddley
, Elvis Presley
, Ray Charles
, James Brown
, Otis Redding
, Carl Perkins
and Jerry Lee Lewis
, among many others. Hank Williams, Willie Nelson
, Waylon Jennings
and Johnny Cash
, while generally regarded as "country" singers, also had a significant role in the development of rock music, giving rise to the original "crossover" genre of rockabilly
. In the 1960s, Stax Records
emerged as a leading competitor of Motown Records, laying thegroundwork for later stylistic innovations in the process.
The South has continued to produce rock music in later decades. In the 1970s, a wave of Southern rock and blues rock groups, led by The Allman Brothers Band
, Lynyrd Skynyrd
, ZZ Top
, and 38 Special, became popular. Macon, Georgia
-based Capricorn Records
helped to spearhead the Southern rock movement, and was the original home to many of the genre's most famous groups. At the other end of the spectrum, along with the aforementioned Brown and Stax, New Orleans' Allen Toussaint
and The Meters
helped to define the funk subgenre of rhythm and blues in the 1970s.
Many who got their start in the regional show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream national and international success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton
are two such examples of artists that have transcended genres.
Many of the roots of alternative rock
are often considered to come from the South as well, with bands such as R.E.M., Pylon
and The B-52's
forever associated with the musically fertile college town of Athens, Georgia
. Cities such as Austin
, Knoxville
, Chapel Hill
, Nashville
and Atlanta also have thriving indie rock
and live music scenes. Austin is home to the long-running South by Southwest
music and arts festival, while several influential independent music labels (Sugar Hill, Merge, Yep Rock and the now-defunct Mammoth Records) were founded in the Chapel Hill area. Several influential death metal
bands have recorded albums at Morrisound Recording
in Temple Terrace, Florida
and the studio is considered an important touchstone in the genre's development.
There is a large underground heavy metal
scene in the Southern United States. Death metal
can trace some of its origins to Tampa, Florida. Bands such as Deicide
, Morbid Angel
, Six Feet Under
, Cannibal Corpse
, among others, have come out of this scene. The Southern United States are also the place where sludge metal
was born and it's where its pioneering acts, Eyehategod
and Crowbar, come from; as well as other notable bands of the style such as Down
and Corrosion of Conformity
. Other well known metal bands from the South include Pantera
, Hellyeah
, Lamb of God
, and Mastodon
. This has helped coin the term southern metal
which is well received by the vast majority in metal circles around the world.
Recently, the spread of rap music has led to the rise of the musical sub-genre of the Dirty South. Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and New Orleans have long been major centers of hip-hop culture.
teams (such as the Dallas Cowboys
, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
, the Miami Dolphins
, and the New Orleans Saints
) the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school
and college football
teams, especially the Southeastern Conference
and in Texas
where high school football, especially in smaller communities, is a dominating activity.
Baseball
became popular in the South, with spring training in Florida from the 1920s, and Major League Baseball
teams like the Atlanta Braves
and Florida Marlins
being recent World Series victors. Minor league baseball
is also closely followed in the South (with the South being home to more minor league teams than any other region of the United States).
The South is also the birthplace of NASCAR
auto racing. Other popular sports in the South include golf
(which can be played almost year-round because of the South's mild climate), fishing
, soccer (which is the fastest growing sport in the South), and the hunting
of wild game such as deer, birds, and raccoon
s. The hot-weather Dallas Stars
, Tampa Bay Lightning
and Carolina Hurricanes
were the 1998–1999, 2003–04
and 2005–06
National Hockey League
champions. Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Lately, other sports such as soccer, tennis, lacrosse (which was developed by southeastern native Americans), have grown considerably in the area.
The masters golf tournament is held in Augusta, Georgia.
1950s–1971:
Following the boom of television in the 1950s, many shows were set in the South and/or became very popular with Southerners. They included:
1976–present:
By 1971 sponsors had grown weary of this formula, and CBS consequently cancelled all of its Southern shows. (Only Hee Haw survived, in syndication.) However, in 1976 Jimmy Carter
was elected as the first President of the United States
from the Deep South
(or arguably only the first since the Civil War.) The election resulted in reporters swarming into Carter's small southern town of Plains, Georgia
, speculation about his lifestyle and Southern Baptist faith, and renewed interest in Southern culture.
A new crop of television shows followed within the next decade, such as:
In addition, network television shows set in the South since 1990 include:
However, critics point out that most of these shows, and most films in general, stereotype Southerners as "hapless hicks" or "a universally simple and often silly group of inhabitants", especially in contrast to the far more complex literary portrayals, and argue that they do not fairly represent Southerners' culture.
and even defamation of Southerners is prevalent in American pop culture, as well as in the media and in historical depictions of Southerners. The frequency of Southerners being portrayed as "persona non grata" in the upper economic classes or as "the other" (as opposed to Americans from other U.S. regions) has decreased somewhat in the last half of the 20th-century, despite Southerners conforming no less to type than they have in previous times. Some stereotypical views often held by non-Southerners typically depict Southerners as laid-back, hospitable, jolly and carefree, but most other Southerner stereotypes are not nearly as positive, including the erroneous conception of the vast majority of Southerners being of lower social class and residing in trailer parks or in (rural) poverty
.
A great number of TV shows, movies and comedic representations often portray Southerners as rednecks, hillbillies, white trash
, or simply trash. Other negative treatments depict Southerners as uniformly backward, uneducated, uncouth, wretched, dirty or unhygienic, poor or impoverished, inbred (from family incest
and thus genetically inferior byproducts of the same), fanatically religious (as Fundamentalist Christians and Protestant Evangelicals who "hate" Catholics, Jews and members of non-Christian religions), hyper-realistic
, racist and xenophobic, sexist and homophobic, ultraconservative and/or extremely patriotic, self confident
, constantly romanticizing slavery/the antebellum era and the Civil War
, rude/impolite, speaking with heavy drawls/accents, disrespectful, over-authorizing
and even tyrannous
to minors
, loud and obnoxious, obese and/or overweight, rabid country music
and/or NASCAR
fans, and as simpleton "hicks" in "remote" and "isolated" small towns.
Southerners who have traveled and lived in the "North" (Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. states) and the Western U.S. often encounter verbal attacks, teasing and mockery. Some Southerners have openly discussed encountering negative Southern stereotypes in the media. Nancy Grace
, Georgia-born prosecutor turned talk show host on the CNN
network, spoke of her experiences of being viewed as "less intelligent" due to her Southern accent while she lived in New York City
. Some popular nicknames for the South in the media are "red states" or "flyover states", which indicate an assumption of less-importance or that they are on the American political fringe.
Pronounced regionalisms and cultural differences are often cited as the cause of stereotypes about Southerners. A very popular negative image of white Southerners is that many are secret members of the Ku Klux Klan
or other fringe movements such as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the John Birch Society. Another is they are all radical right-wingers or "neo-cons" (conservatives) registered in the Republican Party
or "gun-nuts" and Tea Party movement
protestors. White Southerners are often displayed as being parochial and intolerant of anything different from their own homogeneous provincial culture, despite the fact that Southern culture is not monolithic, as it varies greatly by state, church and ethnic origin (for example, the Cajuns of Louisiana
and the "hillbilly" culture of southern Appalachia).
in New Orleans and the Morris Museum of Art
in Augusta
. Southern expressionism and folk art
are types of art generally considered to be part of Southern art. The Southern Arts Federation
maintains a registry of contemporary Southern artists (including visual artists, performing artists, media artists and writers) who have been recognized by their state arts council
s based on the outstanding quality of their work.
Some famous folk artists from the American South include Clementine Hunter
(Natchitoches, Louisiana) and Howard Finster
(Summerville, Georgia) who mixed southern spirituality and traditional religious motifs with surrealism and dream-like post-modernism. Finster's work was featured on album covers by bands such as Talking Heads
(Little Creatures, 1985) and R.E.M. (Reckoning, 1984). He has a permanent display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and his Paradise Gardens is still open to the public almost ten years after his passing.
Chris Flesher (Tennessee) has sold folk art as pieces and as concepts all over the world and has a collection at the American Folk Art Museum
in New York City as well as in Carmel, California. The influence of his art is mainly centered around the enchanting and beautiful landscape of the Great Smoky Mountains
of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
Walter Inglis Anderson
and his art is forever associated with the natural beauty of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and many of his family members continue as artists there still today.
Pop artist Jasper Johns
and African-American modernist Romare Bearden
are two other prominent artists from the South: Johns was a native of Augusta, Georgia
, while Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina
.
A major center of American modernism was located at the Black Mountain College
in the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina
. The history of the college – which attracted John Cage, Walter Gropius, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, Willem de Kooning and other pioneers of varied mid-20th century arts – has been extensively detailed in several books and studies (notably, Mary Emma Harris' Arts At Black Mountain College and Vincent Katz' Black Mountain College: Experiment In Art). The school, which operated as an interdisciplinary, progressive institution for 23 years, was a key incubator for the American artistic avant-garde of the 1960s and beyond.
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
of the United States that is perhaps America's most distinct, in the minds both of its residents and of those in other parts of the country. The combination of its unique history and the fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate from the rest of the country has led to its being the most studied and written about region of the United States.
Southern culture has been and remains generally more socially conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
than that of the rest of the country. Because of the central role of agriculture in the antebellum
History of the United States (1789–1849)
With the election of George Washington as the first president in 1789, the new government acted quickly to rebuild the nation's financial structure. Enacting the program of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, the government assumed the Revolutionary war debts of the state and the national...
economy, society remained stratified according to land ownership, and communities often developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.
From its many cultural influences, the South developed its own unique customs, literature
Southern literature
Southern literature is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region...
, cuisine and musical styles (such as country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, southern gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
).
People
The predominant culture of the South has its origins with the settlement of the region by British colonistsBritish colonization of the Americas
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
. In the 17th century, most were of Southern English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
origins, mostly from regions such as Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
and the West Country who settled mostly on the coastal regions of the South but pushed as far inland as the Appalachian mountains by the 18th century. In the 18th century, large groups of Scots lowlanders
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, Northern English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and Ulster-Scots
Ulster-Scots
The Ulster Scots are an ethnic group in Ireland, descended from Lowland Scots and English from the border of those two countries, many from the "Border Reivers" culture...
(later called the Scots-Irish) settled in Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
and the Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...
. They were often called "crackers
Georgia cracker
Georgia Cracker refers to the original American pioneer settlers of the Province of Georgia , and their descendants. It is different from the pejorative term for southern whites...
" by upper class neighbors. As one wrote, "I should explain… what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." Most Southerners today are of partial or majority English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
and Scots-Irish ancestry. In previous census's an overwhelming majority of Southerners identified as being of English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
or mostly English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
ancestry with 19,618,370 self-identifying as "English" on the 1980 census, followed by 3,679,277 identifying as German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
or mostly German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
. It should also be noted that those who did identify themselves of German ancestry were almost exclusively found in the northern border areas of the region which are adjacent to the American Mid-West. Those from the Tidewater
Tidewater
Tidewater may refer to:*Tidewater , a geographic area of southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina*Tidewater , a company providing marine services to the offshore petroleum industry...
area identified themselves almost exclusively as of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
origins, while those from the Piedmont areas were a mixture of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, Scotch-Irish and Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
origins. South Georgia has a large Irish presence, the ancestors of whom were largely at one time Roman Catholic; however many were converted to various Protestant sects due to the lack of a missionary presence of the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
church in the 18th and 19th centuries. The predominance of Irish surnames in South Georgia has been noted by American historians for some time.
The other primary population group in the South is made up of the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
descendants of the slaves brought into the South. African Americans comprise the United States' second-largest racial minority, accounting for 12.1 percent of the total population according to the 2000 census. Despite Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
era outflow to the North (see Great Migration (African American)
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
), the majority of the black population has remained concentrated in the southern states, and blacks have been returning to the South in large numbers since the end of formal segregation (see New Great Migration
New Great Migration
The New Great Migration is the term for demographic changes from 1965 to the present which are a reversal of the previous 35-year trend of black migration within the United States...
). African Americans in the South have transmitted their foods, music (see "negro spirituals"), art, and charismatic brand of Christianity to white Southerners, and the rest of the nation.
Other ethnic groups established communities in the American South. For examples are the German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
population of the Edwards Plateau
Edwards Plateau
The Edwards Plateau is a region of west-central Texas which is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the Pecos River and Chihuahuan Desert to the west. San Angelo, Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio roughly outline the area...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, whose ancestors arrived in the region in the 1840s. German cultural influence continues to be felt in cities like New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...
near Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. . Much of the population of Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and Alabama traces its primary ancestry to French colonists of the 18th century. Also important is the French community of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
dating back to the 1880s, while the city and nearby Gulf Coast area also attracted waves of Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
or Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
immigrants and Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
refugees in the late 20th century.
Religion
Part of the South is known as the "Bible BeltBible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
", because of the prevalence there of evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and sometimes conservative Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. Some cities such as Atlanta, Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
and Houston also have significant Jewish
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
, and in some of the latter, significant Islamic communities
Islam in the United States
From the 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably most assimilated into the wider society....
. Immigrants from Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
have brought Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
to the region as well. (For more information, see Charles Reagan Wilson, Southern Spaces, March 16, 2004). Most Southerners attend church on a regular basis.
Early on, the South was influenced by masses of religious revivals often instigated by local lay ministers or others itinerants, as well as "circuit-riders" and other trained ministers that made their way South as traveling preachers from New England. Before the Revolution, some Virginians became Baptists, and the issue of religious freedom was being struggled over. In 1765, Elijah Craig
Elijah Craig
Rev. Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky...
and other young men who became fervent Baptists in Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
, were arrested for preaching without licenses from the Anglican Church. They were defended by Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
. The young James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
also represented Baptist preachers in Virginia when he finished law school, and took his thinking about religious freedom to the Constitutional Convention
Philadelphia Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from...
after the Revolution. (Elijah Craig took hundreds of followers with him through the mountains into Kentucky, where they settled near what became Lexington
Bluegrass region
The Bluegrass Region is a geographic region in the state of Kentucky, United States. It occupies the northern part of the state and since European settlement has contained a majority of the state's population and its largest cities....
and established churches and the first Baptist association in Kentucky.)
After the Revolution, the Anglican Church was dis-established, and the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
of the United States was created. The Revolution turned more people toward Methodist and Baptist preachers in the South. The Cane Ridge Revival and subsequent "camp-meetings" on the Kentucky and Tennessee frontiers was the impetus behind the Restoration Movement. Traveling preachers used music and song to convert new members. Shape-note singing became a fundamental part of camp meetings in frontier regions. In the early decades of the 18th century, the Baptists in the South reduced their challenge to class and race. Rather than pressing for freedom for slaves, they encouraged planters to improve treatment of them, and ultimately used the Bible to justify slavery.
In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
separated from other regions. Baptist and Methodist churches proliferated across the Tidewater region, usually attracting common planters, artisans and workers. The wealthiest planters continued to be affiliated with the Episcopal Church. By the beginning of the Civil War, the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist churches had attracted the most members in the South, and their churches were most numerous in the region. Today, probably more than any other region of any developed nation, the South has a high concentration of evangelical and fundamentalist Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
adherents.
Historically Catholic colonists were primarily those from Spain and France, who settled in coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Today, there are significant Roman Catholic populations along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico (especially the port cities of New Orleans, Biloxi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
, Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
and Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
), which preserve the continuing (and broadly popularized) Catholic traditions of Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
at the beginning of Lent in Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
parades and related customs. Elsewhere in the region, Catholics are a small minority and of mainly Irish and French or modern Hispanic ancestry.
Atlanta, in contrast to other Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
cities, contains a large, and rapidly growing, Roman Catholic population. The number of Catholics grew from 292,300 members in 1998 to 900,000 members in 2010, an increase of 207 percent. The population is expected to top 1 million by 2011. The increase is fueled by Catholics moving to Atlanta from other parts of the U.S. and the world, and from newcomers to the church. About 16 percent of all metropolitan Atlanta residents are Catholic, comparable to many of Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
metropolitan areas.
In general, the inland regions of the Deep South and Upper South, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama were less attractive to immigrants and have stronger concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ and other Protestants. Eastern and northern Texas are heavily Protestant, while the southern parts of the state have Mexican-American Catholic majorities.
The city of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
has had a significant Jewish population since the colonial period. The first were Sephardic Jews who had been living in London or on the island of Barbados. They were connected to Jewish communities in New England as well. The community figured prominently in the history of South Carolina
History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina
There is a long history of Jews in Charleston, South Carolina. The charter of the Carolina Colony, drawn up by John Locke in 1669, granted liberty of conscience to all settlers, expressly mentioning "Jews, heathens, and dissenters."...
. Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
also had a Sephardic Jewish community before the Revolution. They built the first synagogue in Virginia about 1791. New Orleans also historically (and in the present day) has a significant Jewish community.
The South Florida
South Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...
area is home to the nation's second largest concentration of Jewish Americans outside New York, most of them early 20th century migrants and descendants from the Northeast. They were descendants of Ashkenazi Jews from Germany, Russia, Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Twentieth century migration and business development have brought significant Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
communities to most major business and university cities, such as Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and more recently, Charlotte.
Southern dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, from West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
to the Gulf Coast, and from the mid-Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
coast to throughout most of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.
Southern dialects make up the largest accent group in the United States. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between regions. African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
(AAVE) shares similarities with Southern dialect due to African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s' strong historical ties to the region.
It has been said that Southerners are most easily distinguished from other Americans by their speech, both in terms of accent and idiom. However, there is no single "Southern Accent." Rather, Southern American English is a collection of dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between, for example, that of Appalachian region
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
and the coastal "low country" around Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. For example, Southerners in the Arkansas region emphasize the long "I" sound, whereas those in Mississippi accentuate their O's to sound more like "ew"s. Folklorists in the 1920s and later argued that because of the region' isolation, Appalachian language patterns more closely mirrored Elizabethan English
Early Modern English
Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
than other accents in the United States. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
(AAVE), shares many similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given that group's strong historical ties to the South.
While traces of African language remain in AAVE, there are a few distinctively African dialect groups in the South, the Gullah
Gullah
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands....
the most famous among them.
Gullah
Gullah language
Gullah is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people , an African American population living on the Sea Islands and the coastal region of the U.S...
is still spoken by some African Americans in the Low Country of South Carolina, Georgia and Northeast Florida, particularly the older generation. Also called Geechee in Georgia, the language and a strongly African culture developed because of the people's relative isolation in large communities, and continued importation of slaves from the same parts of Africa. As the enslaved people on large plantations were relatively undisturbed by whites, Gullah developed as a creole language, based on African forms. Similarly the people kept many African forms in religious rituals, foodways
Foodways
In social science foodways are the cultural, social and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food.- Definitions :...
and similar transportable culture, all influenced by the new environment in the colonies. Other, less known African American dialect groups are the rural blacks of the Mississippi Basin, and Africantown near Mobile, Alabama, where the last known ship to arrive in the Americas with slaves was abandoned in 1860.
There are several other unique linguistic enclaves in the American South. Among them is that of Tangier Island, Virginia, as well as the Outer Banks
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
, which some scholars claim preserves a unique English dialect from the colonial period. The New Orleans or "Yat"
Yat (New Orleans)
Yat is a dialect of English spoken in the Greater New Orleans Area. The term refers to those people who speak with the Yat accent and dialect of New Orleanians throughout the city...
dialect is similar to Northeastern port city accents because of an influx of German and Irish immigrants similar to those of the Northeast. Many are familiar with the French-based Cajun French
Cajun French
Cajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....
that is spoken in the southern half of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Other distinct languages include Cajun French
Cajun French
Cajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....
(Louisiana), and Isleño Spanish (Louisiana, see also Canarian Spanish
Canarian Spanish
Canarian Spanish is a variant of standard Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canarian people, and in the southeastern section of Louisiana in Isleño communities that emigrated to the Americas as early as the 18th century...
).
The US South also contains many indigenous languages from the Native American Muskogean, Caddoan, Siouan–Catawban, Iroquoian, Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
, Yuchi
Yuchi language
The Yuchi language is the language of the Yuchi people living in the southeastern United States, including eastern Tennessee, western Carolinas, northern Georgia and Alabama, in the period of early European colonization. However, speakers of the Yuchi language were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma...
, Chitimacha
Chitimacha language
The Chitimacha language is a language isolate historically spoken by the Chitimacha people of Louisiana, United States. It went extinct in 1940 with the death of the last fluent speaker, Delphine Ducloux....
, Natchez
Natchez language
Natchez was a language of Louisiana. Its two last fluent speakers, Watt Sam and Nancy Raven, died in the late 1930s. The Natchez nation is now working to revive it as a spoken language.-Classification:...
, Tunica
Tunica language
The Tunica language was a language isolate spoken in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley by in the United States by Native American Tunica peoples. There are no known speakers of the Tunica language remaining.When the last known fluent speaker Sesostrie Youchigant died, the language became...
, Adai, Timucua
Timucua language
Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...
and Atakapa
Atakapa language
Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern Texas. It was spoken by the Atakapa people .-Geographic variation:There were two varieties of Atakapa Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern...
families. The historical record seems to suggest a picture of great linguistic diversity (similar to California) although most languages mentioned were not documented. Several southeastern languages have become extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
and all are endangered
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
. Historical language contact
Language contact
Language contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics.Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual...
among Native Americans developed into a southeastern Sprachbund
Sprachbund
A Sprachbund – also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads – is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related...
. The influence of native languages has led to distinct Indian varieties of English.
Regional variations
There continues to be debate about what constitutes the basics elements of Southern culture. This debate is influenced partly because the South is such a large region. As a result, there are a number of cultural variations among states in the region.Among the variations found in Southern culture are:
- The lowland South was settled first by mostly English in the Chesapeake BayChesapeake BayThe Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
Colony, and French and Spanish in the lower South. This was the first area developed as plantations for cash crops of tobacco, rice and indigoIndigo dyeIndigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive blue color . Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from plants, and this process was important economically because blue dyes were once rare. Nearly all indigo dye produced today — several thousand tons each year — is synthetic...
. Later, cotton, sugar and hemp became important cash crops, as well. Planters imported large numbers of Africans who became enslaved for life by law. The coastal areas were dominated by wealthy planters, who extended their power to state governments.
- Historical, political, and cultural divisions continue to divide the "upcountry" or "hill" culture of the Appalachian and Ozark mountain regions from that of low-lying areas such as the Virginia TidewaterTidewater region of VirginiaThe Tidewater region of Virginia is the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia formally known as Hampton Roads. The term tidewater may be correctly applied to all portions of any area, including Virginia, where the water level is affected by the tides...
, Gulf Coast, the Low Country of South Carolina and the Mississippi DeltaMississippi DeltaThe Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
. By contrast, farmers in the hill country cultivated land for subsistence, and few held slaves. The hill country's population has chiefly Scots-Irish and northern English ancestry. Because they were chiefly yeoman farmersYeomanYeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
, many upland areas did not support the Confederate cause during the American Civil War (see Andrew JohnsonAndrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
). Those in the hill country continued to support the Republican Party when the remainder of the white South supported Democrats.
- Areas having experienced a large influx of newcomers typically have been less likely to hold onto a distinctly Southern identity and cultural influences. For this reason, urban areaUrban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s during the Civil War were less likely to favor secession than agricultural areas. Today, partly because of continuing population migration patterns between urban areas in the North and South, historically "Southern" larger urban areas, such as Atlanta, AustinAustinAustin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...
, CharlotteCHARLOTTE- CHARLOTTE :CHARLOTTE is an American blues-based hard rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1986. Currently, they are signed to indie label, Eonian Records, under which they released their debut cd, Medusa Groove, in 2010. Notable Charlotte songs include 'Siren', 'Little Devils',...
, Raleigh-Durham, RichmondRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, NashvilleNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, JacksonvilleJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Dallas and Houston, have assimilated modern metropolitan identities distinct from their historic "Southern" heritage. However, while these metropolitan areas have had their original southern culture somewhat diluted, they nonetheless have largely preserved their distinct "Southern" identity.
- Over the past half-century, numerous LatinosHispanic and Latino AmericansHispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
have migrated to the American South from Mexico and Latin America most notably in the cases of Texas and Florida. Urban areas such as Atlanta, New Orleans and Nashville have seen a major increase in Latino immigrants over the past ten to fifteen years. Factory and agribusiness jobs have also attracted Mexican and Latin American workers to more rural regions of the South. Many believe that Latino culture is diluting southern culture in places with high populations of Latinos.
Florida
Florida is a unique situation. There is a popular saying in Florida that "The North is in the South, and the South is in the North" or "The more north you go the more Southern it gets." This refers to the vast cultural difference between peoples of North and South Florida. Despite being the most geographically southeastern state, it has experienced such rapid population growth from regions outside of the traditional South that it is sometimes no longer considered to be "culturally Southern" in some areas (especially true of South FloridaSouth Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...
). However, this depends on the area of the state. For example, while the culturally-Southern Florida Panhandle counts for only 7% of the state's population, largely non-Southern South Florida accounts for a full third of the state's population, with Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
(where a majority of residents were born outside of the United States) alone having approximately twice as many residents as the entire Panhandle. North Floridians commonly are staunch defenders of their southern heritage, often noting that they were the third state after South Carolina and Mississippi to secede from the Union prior to the US Civil War and also that Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
was the only capital east of the Mississippi never captured by Union forces during the war, solidifying their placement within traditional southern culture. Florida and Oklahoma are the only two states in the Census-defined South in which the largest ancestry group is German-American, as opposed to the "American" ancestry that is most common in the South among whites; in this manner, these states more closely resemble states of the Midwest and Mountain West than they do Southern states. While Southern American English
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
is the dominant dialect across the entire South, this accent is largely absent from South Florida unlike certain areas in the western, northern, and central regions of the state and other rural areas. The religious composition of Florida is also highly atypical for the South; Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas are the only Census-defined Southern states in which Catholics outnumber Southern Baptists, and Florida has the largest Jewish population by a significant margin among Census-defined Southern states.
The least "Southern" part of the state is South Florida, which has been transformed by the rapid influx of Northern migrants and immigration from (especially) Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Miami-Dade County is the only county in the entire United States in which a majority (51.4%) of residents were born outside of the country, with Broward
Broward County, Florida
-2000 Census:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,623,018 people, 654,445 households, and 411,645 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,346 people per square mile . There were 741,043 housing units at an average density of 615 per square mile...
, Palm Beach
Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
and Monroe
Monroe County, Florida
Monroe County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 79,589. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county was 74,737....
counties all having far more transplanted residents than native-born Floridians. The northern, central and rural areas are more "southern", with such areas as most of Central Florida
Central Florida
Central Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....
, the Florida Panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
, and the Florida Heartland
Florida Heartland
The Florida Heartland is a region of Florida located to the north and west of Lake Okeechobee, composed of six inland, non-metropolitan counties — DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee. In 2000, The US Census Bureau recorded the population of the region at 229,509...
demonstrating the typical Southern culture (i.e. the South is in the North).
Kentucky
With its northern border at the confluence of the Upper South and the MidwestMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
demonstrates multiple cultural influences. A study in the 1990s revealed that 79% of Kentuckians agreed they were living within the south. The study also showed that 84 percent of Texans, and 82 percent of Virginians believe they live in the south. Between 80–90% of residents in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and the Carolinas described themselves as southerners. This is likely because regional identification often varies dramatically within Kentucky. For example, many consider northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky is the name often given to the northernmost counties in Kentucky...
to be the most Midwestern region as it shares culture with Cincinnati. Studies show that a significant minority of people in Northern Kentucky still identify with the South. Conversely, southern Ohio and southern Indiana
Southern Indiana
Southern Indiana, in the United States, consists of the 33 counties located in the southernmost part of the state. The region's history and geography has led to a blend of Northern and Southern culture distinct from the remainder of Indiana. It is often considered to be part of the Upland South...
are highly Southern in comparison to most of the Midwest, as is the "little Egypt" region of southern Illinois.
Some sources treat Southern Indiana as essentially the upper tip of Upland South culture while others maintain that Southern culture, while significant, is not dominant in the region. Louisville is viewed as culturally and economically Midwestern in some analyses, because it rapidly industrialized during the late 19th century (although not to the same extent as most northern cities), as opposed to the slow industrialization that occurred in the South. Other observers consider Louisville to be southern culturally, due to dialect and various other aspects of culture. It is often described as both "the Gateway to the South" and "the northernmost Southern city and southernmost Northern city." Unlike the remainder of the state, Louisville, Covington, and Newport received large amounts of German immigrants due to manufacturing interests on the Ohio river, thus making the culture there somewhat distinct from the rest of the state. Had Kentucky been a free-state, prior to the Civil War, it would have likely drawn more German immigration, as there was usually a relatively small number of slaves in the areas where Germans did settle.
While varying degrees of southern cultural influence can be found in Kentucky inside the Cincinnati area and Louisville, smaller cities such as Owensboro
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...
, Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
, Hopkinsville
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Hopkinsville is a city in Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 31,577 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Christian County.- History :...
and Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
, together with most of the state's rural areas, have continued to be more distinctly Southern in character. Outside of those two specific areas, southern culture, dialect, mannerisms, etc. are prominent. Southern cuisine is quite common across the state. Western Kentucky is famous for a regional style of southern barbecue, and other forms of southern food such as catfish, country ham, greens beans etc. can also be found. Today most of the state, outside of Northern Kentucky, shares a cultural identity with Tennessee and the rest of the Upland South in ancestry, dialect, and various other aspects of culture.
In most contexts, especially culturally, the state is grouped as part of the south.
Louisiana
The state was first colonized by FranceFrench colonization of the Americas
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America...
and Spain
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
rather than Great Britain, a difference which gave it a different form of law and other distinct cultural traditions. The French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
, Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
, Creole
Louisiana Creole people
Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...
, African and Caribbean-influenced culture is especially strong in the southern portion of the state. Coastal Mississippi
Mississippi Gulf Coast
The Mississippi Gulf Coast refers to the three Mississippi counties which lie on the Gulf of Mexico: Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.The region was severely damaged by Hurricane Camille in 1969 and again by Hurricane Katrina in 2005....
and Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
were both part of colonial Louisiana and both areas retain strong traces of Louisiana culture which is present in local cuisine such as gumbo and local celebrations such as Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
. Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
was not originally a part of Louisiana but was settled by many Cajuns from Louisiana who relocated there in the early 1900s to take jobs in the oil fields. These areas are all considered as "culturally Louisiana."
In the antebellum years, a significant population of free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
or Creoles of color
Creoles of color
The Creoles of Color are a historic ethnic group of Louisiana, especially the city of New Orleans.-History:During Louisiana’s colonial period, Creole referred to people born in Louisiana with ancestors from elsewhere; i.e., all natives other than Native Americans. They used the term to separate...
, as opposed to White Creoles known as French Creoles, had formed in New Orleans, in part because of the system of plaçage
Plaçage
Plaçage was a recognized extralegal system in which white French and Spanish and later Creole men entered into the equivalent of common-law marriages with women of African, Indian and white Creole descent. The term comes from the French placer meaning "to place with"...
that developed since the colonial period. Many became educated, had their own businesses and owned property. They formed a distinct third class between Europeans Americans and enslaved Africans, although their freedoms were reduced after the Louisiana Purchase and imposition of Americans' binary racial views. Together with the cosmopolitan views of an international seaport, Roman Catholics in metropolitan New Orleans had relatively tolerant attitudes toward alcohol use, gambling, and prostitution in contrast to the outwardly conservative evangelical Protestant beliefs of many in the Deep South.
North Carolina
Some say that the most recent shift in Southern cultural influence and demographics has occurred in North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. The state's metropolitan areas, notably that of the Research Triangle, have a more liberal tendency, while the rural piedmont, coastal and appalachian regions remain strongly conservative.
Many new residents have come for work from the North and Midwest, especially from the New York City and Cleveland metropolitan areas. The Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
and Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
-Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
areas have attracted the most new residents because of economic growth: banking/finance in Charlotte; universities and high-tech in Raleigh-Durham. The Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
area has attracted more retirees.
In addition to Northerners, the job markets in North Carolina's three largest metropolitan regions — Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and the Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
-Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
-High Point
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
Piedmont Triad
Piedmont Triad
The Piedmont Triad, or Triad, is a north-central region of the U.S. state of North Carolina that consists of the area within and surrounding the three major cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group or "triad" of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the...
— have also attracted large and growing Latino
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
and Asian American immigration and migration. A report released by the Brookings Institute in May 2006 entitled Diversity Spreads Out, noted that the Charlotte metro area ranked second nationally with a 49.8% growth rate in its Hispanic population between 2000 and 2004. The Raleigh-Durham metro area followed in third place with a 46.7% rate of growth.
Oklahoma
OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
is part of the South as defined by the Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
(see map near beginning of article) but, culturally, it is more of a transition zone from the South to the West. Before being admitted as a state in 1907, Oklahoma was known as "Indian Territory." It was the site where Indian tribes were relocated after having been removed from areas east of the Mississippi River, most of them from the South. Primary among those removed to Oklahoma were the "Five Civilized Tribes" including the Seminoles, Creeks, Chickisaws, Choctaws and Cherokees. The majority of the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes in Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War, in part because many of them had slaveholding members. Oklahoma maintained a non-voting delegate in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War. Due to the mass-migrations into Oklahoma during the late 1800s by non-Southern whites, much of its original Southern cultural character became diluted. Still, parts of Oklahoma are known as "Little Dixie" today due to the strong Southern cultural ties and characteristics found there.
Oklahoma has the nation's largest Native American population. Its cultural heritage is both southern and western. Oklahoma is home of the Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
, which houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West. This includes Native American art and artifacts and historical manuscripts, documents and maps. Oklahoma is sometimes described as being part of the "Great Southwest". Because of its geographic location, eastern Oklahoma is more connected to Southern culture.
Texas
Because of its size and unique history, particularly having once been a nation in its own right (i.e. the Republic of TexasRepublic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
), Texas' modern-day relationship to the rest of the South is often a subject of debate and discussion. It has been described as "a Southern state, certainly, yet not completely in or of the South." With a history of Southern settlement and cotton plantations, East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
, North Texas
North Texas
North Texas is a distinct cultural and geographic area forming the central-northeastern section of the U.S. state of Texas. North Texas is generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, and north of Waco...
and parts of Central Texas, are more associated with the South than the Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
. On the other hand, in terms of geology, economy, and culture, parts of West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
, Central Texas and South Texas
South Texas
South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of and including San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande River, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 3.7 million. The southern portion of this region is...
share more similarities with the Southwest. Major cities like Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
have large numbers of Northern and West Coast transplants, and thus, less Southern-like culture.
The upper Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
and the South Plains
South Plains
South Plains is a vernacular term that refers to a region in West Texas consisting of the portion of the Llano Estacado extending south of the Texas Panhandle, centered at Lubbock. While prominent in the area of petroleum production, the South Plains is mainly an agricultural region, producing a...
areas of West Texas do not easily fit into either category. The former has much in common both culturally and geographically with Midwestern states like Kansas and Nebraska. The South Plains, though originally settled primarily by Anglo Southerners, has become a blend of both Southern and Southwestern culture due to rapidly increasing Hispanic population.
The size and cultural distinctiveness of Texas prohibit easy categorization of the entire state in any recognized region. Geographic, economic and cultural diversity among regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right. The larger cities of Texas with their burgeoning knowledge-based economies have attracted migrants from other regions of the United States and immigrants from Latin America and Asia. However, partly due to its membership in the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, and the fact much of the state is in the Bible Belt
Bible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
, it is usually considered more of a Southern state rather than a Western one. Also, linguistic maps of Texas place most of the state within the spheres of upper, mid- and Gulf- Southern dialects, helping to further identify the state as being Southern (use of Southern colloquialisms such as y'all and ain't are still very much widespread in Texas).
Virginia
Northern VirginiaNorthern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
has attracted many internal migrants coming for job opportunities with the federal government and related businesses during and after World War II, due to the emergence and expansion of the Northeast Megalopolis
Northeast megalopolis
The Northeast megalopolis or Boston–Washington megalopolis is the heavily urbanized area of the United States stretching from the the northern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts to the southern suburbs of Washington, D.C. On a map, the region appears almost as a perfectly straight line. As of 2000,...
. More expansion resulted from the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
around the turn of the 21st century. Economically linked to Washington, D.C., residents of the northern part of the state tend to consider its culture more Mid-Atlantic than Southern. Some in Virginia refer to the area as "Occupied Virginia." The rest of the state is considered more southern in culture, with its capital, Richmond, also having served as the capital of the Confederacy.
Overall, however, based on a study from the late 1990s, 82% of Virginians believe they live in the south and most identify more with the South than with any other region.
West Virginia
The formation of West VirginiaWest Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in 1863 underlined the old divide between the highlands and the rest of the South. While West Virginia is classified by the Census Bureau as a southern state, its peculiar geographic shape means that the northernmost tip is at about the same latitude as central New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The northernmost part of the state
Northern Panhandle of West Virginia
The Northern Panhandle is a culturally and geographically distinct region in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the state's northernmost extension, bounded by the Ohio River on the north and west, along with the state of Pennsylvania on the east...
, as well as a number of northern non-panhandle cities, such as Morgantown
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
, about an hour's drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, have become exurbs
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
of the former industrial city, resulting in a less "Southern" culture.
The easternmost tip of the state
Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia
The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia is a narrow stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia, United States. The Eastern Panhandle Board of Realtors and other local civic organizations consider only the three Easternmost counties, Jefferson, Berkeley and...
is close enough to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
that it is becoming an exurb of that area with a unique North-South "hybrid" culture. The Census Bureau classifies the two easternmost counties, Berkeley
Berkeley County, West Virginia
Berkeley County is a county located in the Eastern Panhandle region of the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of 2010, the population is 104,169, making it the second-most populous county in West Virginia, behind Kanawha...
and Jefferson
Jefferson County, West Virginia
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 53,498. Its county seat is Charles Town...
, as part of the larger Washington Metropolitan Area
Washington Metropolitan Area
The Washington Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The area includes all of the federal district and parts of the U.S...
.
Huntington
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...
, near the state's boundary with Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Kentucky, is sometimes identified with the Rust Belt
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
. It has more of a Southern climate and environment compared to the state's Northern Panhandle and North-Central
North-Central West Virginia
North-Central West Virginia is a region of the U.S. State of West Virginia. The region's largest city is Morgantown.- Counties :*Monongalia County*Marion County*Harrison County*Taylor County*Doddridge County...
regions.
Lastly, Bluefield
Bluefield, West Virginia
Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 10,447 at the 2010 census. It is also the core city of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,342.-Geography & Climate:...
and other towns on the southern border of West Virginia are less than a 3-hour drive (170 miles) to Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
. They are only an hour and a half (70 miles) to the North Carolina border. For residents of such areas, Charlotte is their closest major city.
West Virginia was created from 50 western counties of Virginia during the Civil War. Although two-thirds of the territory of the proposed state consisted of secessionist counties, the Wheeling Unionists were successful in guiding their statehood bill through Congress. It was signed by President Lincoln. Because of the confusing circumstances of the state's creation, some do not consider West Virginia to be part of the South. People in West Virginia have typically shared ancestry and heritage with the Appalachian culture that extends down the spine of a large swath of the backcountry South.
Missouri
MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
is classified as a Midwestern state by the Census Bureau and many of its residents. St. Louis was known as the "Gateway to the West" when settlement was expanding. Some observers include the Missouri Ozarks with the Highland South and its predominantly Scots-Irish culture. The northern edge of the Ozark Plateau was settled chiefly by mid- to late 19th century German immigrants, however, who founded numerous vineyards and wineries. Due to this, Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state before Prohibition, which destroyed the industry. Wineries have been rebuilt since the later decades of the 20th century, and Missouri wineries are competing well in national festivals. Part of the Missouri River valley, from beyond St. Louis suburbs in St. Charles County to east of Jefferson City, is known as the Missouri Rhineland
Missouri Rhineland
The Missouri Rhineland is a geographical area of Missouri that extends from west of St. Louis to slightly east of Jefferson City, located mostly in the Missouri River Valley on both sides of the river...
because of the extensive vineyards and wineries based on German immigrant tradition and descendants.
In the antebellum years, many settlers from Upper South states such as Virginia and Kentucky migrated to the counties of central and western Missouri along the Missouri River, where they could cultivate tobacco and hemp. Because these southerners brought their culture and slaveholding with them, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slaveholding state. In modern times, this area became known as Little Dixie
Little Dixie (Missouri)
Little Dixie is a 13- to 17-county region of Missouri found along the Missouri River, settled primarily by migrants from the hemp and tobacco districts of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Today, the region identifies with the Midwest, but because of Southerners settling there first, the...
. Before the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, six of the counties included in this area had populations in which more than 25% were enslaved African Americans, the highest concentrations in the state outside the cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Antebellum houses typical of the South still stand in some of Little Dixie, although for the most part all of Little Dixie is considered to be Midwestern by modern standards. All the crops grown there today are corn, soybeans and wheat, of which the area was far more suited than for Southern crops like cotton, hemp or tobacco, the latter three of which essentially ceased their presence there after the Civil War along with the dominance of Southern culture. However, the Missouri bootheel is still very much culturally southern.
The Midwest, Southwest and West
Many areas of New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
were predominantly settled by European American southerners as they moved west in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For instance, pro-Confederate governments were established in what is now Arizona and New Mexico during the Civil War and, at one point, southern California was on the cusp of breaking away from northern California and joining the Confederacy.
Southerners migrated to industrial cities in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
for work before and after World War II. They went to Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, as well as Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. During the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
and Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
crisis, a large influx of migrants from areas such as Oklahoma, Arkansas and the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
settled in California. These "Okie" and "Arkie" migrants and their descendants remain a strong influence on the culture of the Central Valley of California, especially around the cities of Bakersfield
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
and Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
.
More than 6.5 million African Americans left the segregated South for the industrial cities of the Midwest and West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
during the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
, beginning in World War I and extending to 1970. Many migrants from Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas moved to California during and after World War II because of jobs in the defense industry. As a result, many African Americans as well as European Americans have "Northern" and "Southern" branches of their families. Significant parts of African-American culture, such as music, literary forms and cuisine, have been rooted in the South but have changed with urban northern and western influences, too.
Cuisine
As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. Popular sayings include "Food is Love" and "If it ain't fried it ain't cooked". Southern culinary culture has readily adopted Native American influences. Corn mealCornmeal
Cornmeal is flour ground from dried maize or American corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to fine, medium, and coarse consistencies. In the United States, the finely ground cornmeal is also referred to as cornflour. However, the word cornflour denotes cornstarch in recipes from the...
cereal known as "grits
Grits
Grits are a food of American Indian origin common in the Southern United States and mainly eaten at breakfast. They consist of coarsely ground corn, or sometimes alkali-treated corn . They are also sometimes called sofkee or sofkey from the Muskogee language word...
", cornfritters, cornbread
Cornbread
Cornbread is a generic name for any number of quick breads containing cornmeal and leavened by baking powder.-History:Native Americans were using ground corn for food thousands of years before European explorers arrived in the New World...
and brunswick stew
Brunswick stew
Brunswick stew is a traditional dish, popular in the American South. The origin of the dish is uncertain, and there are two competing claims as to the place in the South where it originated, in addition to some claim to a German origin...
are a few of the more common examples of foods adopted directly from southeastern Indians. Nevertheless, a great many regional varieties have also developed. The variety of cuisines range from Tex-Mex cuisine
Tex-Mex cuisine
"Tex-Mex" is a term used to describe a regional American cuisine that blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans influenced by the cuisines of Mexico. The cuisine has spread from border states such as Texas and those in the Southwestern...
, Cajun
Cajun cuisine
Cajun cuisine is the style of cooking named for the French-speaking Acadian or "Cajun" immigrants deported by the British from Acadia in Canada to the Acadiana region of Louisiana, USA. It is what could be called a rustic cuisine — locally available ingredients predominate, and preparation...
and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina, Virginia (which shares strong similarities with North Carolina) and Memphis styles of Barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
.
Traditional African American Southern food is often called soul food
Soul food
Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...
. While not typically as spicy as is cajun food, it does tend to use lots of herbs, flour, and can also be called stick-to your ribs food. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
, Italian
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
, French
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
, Middle Eastern
Middle Eastern cuisine
Middle-Eastern cuisine, West Asian cuisine, or in some place in the United States, Persian-Mediterranean cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of the Middle East . The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity...
, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, so-called "home cooking" establishments. Some notable "home cooking" meals include: fried chicken
Fried chicken
Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...
, corn on the cob
Corn on the cob
Corn on the cob is a culinary term used for a cooked ear of freshly picked maize from a cultivar of sweet corn. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender...
, greens with pot liquor, vegetable stew, chicken and dumplings, and chicken fried steak
Chicken fried steak
Chicken fried steak is a dish consisting of a piece of steak coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. It is associated with Texas cuisine...
.
Drink
Many of the most popular American soft drinkSoft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
s today originated in the South (Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew is a citrus-flavored carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in the 1940s by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman and was first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. A revised formula was...
, Royal Crown Cola and its related Nehi
Nehi
Nehi is a flavored soft drink that originated in America. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The "Nehi Corporation" name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after its RC...
products and Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia ...
). In many parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Texas and other parts of the South, the term "soft drink" or "soda" is discarded in favor of "Coke" (see Genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
). Some people use the term "co-cola" when ordering a soft drink. In most restaurants, when someone orders "coke" or "co-cola", it is understood to bring whatever brand of cola the establishment offers. Traditionally, the term "soft drink" was seldom used in the South. Many older southerners call soft drinks "soda water" or "sodi-water" or "sodi-pop"." In addition, there are some soft drinks available only in the South, such as Sun Drop, Cheerwine
Cheerwine
Cheerwine is a cherry-flavored soft drink produced by the Carolina Beverage Corporation of Salisbury, North Carolina. It has been produced since 1917 by "the oldest continuing soft drink company still run by the same family".- Overview and history :...
, and Ale-8-One
Ale-8-One
Ale-8-One, known colloquially as Ale-8, is a regional ginger-flavored soft drink, distributed only in Kentucky, southern Ohio and portions of Alabama, Georgia, and Indiana...
in Kentucky. Buffalo Rock
Buffalo Rock
Buffalo Rock Company is an independent Pepsi bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama, and founded in 1901. In addition to bottling Pepsi products, the company produced Grapico in 1981, a grape tasting soft drink, and a ginger ale under its own brand name....
gingerale a strong, dark gingerale is available and popular in parts of Alabama and Georgia. Blenheim, another southern ginger ale, originated from Northeastern SC (Blenheim) and is also only found in the South. Grapico
Grapico
Grapico is a caffeine free, artificially flavored carbonated soft drink with a purple color and a grape taste that is sold in the Southeastern United States. When introduced in 1914, the product quickly became a success, which in part was due to implying that Grapico contained real grape juice even...
is another Southern creation. A supersaturated sweetened iced tea, typically called sweet tea
Sweet tea
Sweet tea is a style of iced tea commonly consumed in the Southern United States. Sweet tea is made by adding sugar to bags of black tea brewing in hot water while the mixture is still hot, which allows for supersaturation of the solution, enabling the tea to hold more dissolved sweetener than...
, is also associated with Southern cuisine. Lemonade
Lemonade
Lemonade is a lemon-flavored drink, typically made from lemons, water and sugar.The term can refer to three different types of beverage:...
is also a popular summer beverage. In parts of Texas and Kentucky, Big Red
Big Red (drink)
Big Red is a soft drink that was created by Grover C. Thomsen and R.H. Roark in Waco, Texas and originally known as Sun Tang Red Cream Soda. It is generally considered to be one of many American varieties of cream soda, and is the original "red cream soda"...
is popularly consumed.
The South has long had a somewhat paradoxically ambivalent attitude toward alcoholic beverages leading to the saying that "The South votes dry and drinks wet". Although the Bible Belt region was in strong support of early 20th-century Prohibition, in the antebellum years, plantation society routinely enjoyed drinks as part of its famous hospitality. Elite classes imported wine from Europe to enjoy, and drinking was often a major part of local festivals and court days. Today, Texas is the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
is known throughout the world as "the city that care forgot", epitomized by the phrase "laissez les bons temps rouler", and where its famous Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street is a famous and historic street that spans the length of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. When founded in 1718, the city was originally centered around the French Quarter...
celebrations usually involve copious amounts of food and alcoholic drink. Hurricanes are a drink widely associated with the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
party scene, as well as absinthe, sazerac cocktails and almost every other form of alcohol available.
Official support for Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
existed in the Southern states before and after the 18th Amendment
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
was in force in the USA. Many southern states are control states that monopolize and highly regulate the distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks. Many counties in the South, particularly outside of larger metropolitan areas, are dry counties that do not allow for alcohol sales in retail outlets. However, many dry counties still allow for "private clubs" (often with low daily fees) to serve alcohol on the premises. Beer is still widely popular in the South, though its consumption is often frowned upon in some religious circles. Lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
s and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the predominantly hot, humid climate. The most popular beers in the south are those produced by Anheuser Busch, particularly Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
and Busch. Cartersville, a suburb of Atlanta, has a massive production facility for Anheuser Busch. Regional brands such as "Dixie" and "Jax" beers of New Orleans, as well as "Pearl" beer of San Antonio, were long-associated with particular parts of the South.
The upper South, specifically Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, is known for its production of bourbon whiskey
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
, which is also a popular base for cocktails. Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
is attributed with producing 95% of the world's bourbon
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
, which is sometime's referred to as America's only native spirit. Congress has established bourbon as such and there are standards of law that the spirit titled 'bourbon' sold in The United States can only be produced in The United States. The Mint julep
Mint Julep
The mint julep is a mixed alcoholic drink, or cocktail, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States.- Preparation :A mint julep is traditionally made with four ingredients: mint leaf, bourbon, sugar, and water. Traditionally, spearmint is the mint of choiceused in Southern states, and...
is traditionally depicted as a popular beverage among more affluent Southerners. Many other bourbons are produced in Kentucky including: Evan Williams
Evan Williams (whiskey)
Evan Williams is a brand of bourbon whiskey bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky at the Heaven Hill distillery. The product is aged for a minimum of four years and is sold for a relatively modest price.-Production:...
, Wild Turkey and Bulleit Bourbon. Another form of spirit produced in the South is Tennessee Whiskey, most notably Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of sour mash Tennessee whiskey that is among the world's best-selling liquors. It is known for its square bottles and black label. As of November, 2007, one blogger was claiming that it was the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee by...
, the number one selling whisky in the world, which is made in Lynchburg, Tennessee
Lynchburg, Tennessee
Lynchburg is a city in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is governed by a consolidated city-county government unit whose boundaries coincide with those of Moore County. Lynchburg is best known as the location of the Jack Daniel's distillery, whose famous whiskey is...
. Another modern brand, George Dickel
George Dickel
George Dickel is the name of a brand of Tennessee whisky distilled and aged in Cascade Hollow, Tennessee, near Tullahoma and bottled in Stamford, Connecticut and Canada. The brand is now owned by Diageo PLC. Four whiskies are produced at the George Dickel Distillery: George Dickel Cascade Hollow,...
, is produced in nearby Tullahoma, Tennessee
Tullahoma, Tennessee
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 18,655 people, 7,717 households, and 5,161 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 88.1% White, 7.0% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races...
. Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort is an American liqueur made from neutral spirits with fruit, spice and whiskey flavourings. The brand was originally created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, and is now owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation...
is flavored distilled spirit modeled after bourbon, and made in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. Due to widespread restrictions on alcohol production, illegally distilled liquor or moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
has long been associated (often rather stereotypically) with working class and poor people in much of the region, especially (though by no means exclusively) in southern Appalachia, and this tradition has been represented frequently in popular culture.
Literature
Born in the Little Dixie region of Missouri to parents who had recently emigrated from Tennessee, Mark TwainMark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
is often placed within the pantheon of great Southern writers. Many of his works demonstrate his extensive knowledge of the Mississippi River and the South; also included in his works as a frequent theme were the injustice of slavery and the culture of Protestant public morality.
Perhaps the most famous southern writer of all is William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex techniques to American writing (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).
Other well-known Southern writers include Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years...
, Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier was an American musician and poet.-Biography:Sidney Lanier was born February 3, 1842, in Macon, Georgia, to parents Robert Sampson Lanier and Mary Jane Anderson; he was mostly of English ancestry. His distant French Huguenot ancestors immigrated to England in the 16th century...
, Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks was an influential American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-twentieth century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher education...
, Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy , is a New York Times bestselling author who has written several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, were made into Oscar-nominated films.-Early life:...
, Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
, Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
, Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
, William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
, Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
, Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers was an American writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South...
, James Dickey
James Dickey
James Lafayette Dickey was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1966.-Early years:...
, Willie Morris
Willie Morris
William Weaks "Willie" Morris , was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' trademark was his lyrical prose style and reflections on the American South, particularly...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, Walker Percy
Walker Percy
Walker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
, Barry Hannah
Barry Hannah
Howard Barry Hannah was an American novelist and short story writer from Mississippi.The author of eight novels and five short story collections , Hannah worked with notable American editors and publishers such as Gordon Lish, Seymour Lawrence, and Morgan Entrekin...
, Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
, Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
, Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
, Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
, John Grisham
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
, James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
, Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
, Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays...
, Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason
Bobbie Ann Mason is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic from Kentucky.With four siblings Mason grew up on her family's dairy farm outside of Mayfield, Kentucky. As a child she loved to read, so her parents, Wilburn and Christina Mason, always made sure she had...
, Harry Crews
Harry Crews
Harry Crews is an American novelist, playwright, short story writer and essayist. He was born in Bacon County, Georgia in 1935 and served in the Marines during the Korean War. He attended the University of Florida on the GI Bill, but dropped out to travel...
and the authors known as the Southern Agrarians
Southern Agrarians
The Southern Agrarians were a group of twelve American writers, poets, essayists, and novelists, all with roots in the Southern United States, who joined together to write a pro-Southern agrarian manifesto, a...
.
Possibly the most famous southern novel of the 20th-century is Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
by Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author and journalist. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for her epic American Civil War era novel, Gone with the Wind, which was the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.-Family:Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta,...
, published in 1937. Another famous southern novel, To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
by Harper Lee
Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
, won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
after it was published in 1960.
Music
The musical heritage of the South was developed by both whites and blacks, both influencing each other directly and indirectly.The South's musical history actually starts before the Civil War, with the songs of the African slaves and the traditional folk music brought from Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
. Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
was developed in the rural South by African Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, spirituals, country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, beach music
Beach music
Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music, is a regional genre which developed from various musical styles of the forties, fifties and sixties. These styles ranged from big band swing instrumentals to the more raucous sounds of blues/jump blues, jazz, doo-wop, boogie, rhythm and blues,...
, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
(including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
), zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
, and Appalachian folk music were either born in the South or developed in the region.
In general, country music is based on the folk music of white Southerners, and blues and rhythm and blues is based on African American southern forms. However, whites and blacks alike have contributed to each of these genres, and there is a considerable overlap between the traditional music of blacks and whites in the South, particularly in gospel music forms. A stylish variant of country music (predominantly produced in Nashville) has been a consistent, widespread fixture of American pop since the 1950s, while insurgent forms (i.e. bluegrass) have traditionally appealed to more discerning sub-cultural and rural audiences. Blues dominated the African American music charts from the advent of modern recording until the mid-1950s, when it was supplanted by the less guttural and forlorn sounds of rock and R&B. Nevertheless, unadulterated blues (along with early rock and roll) is still the subject of reverential adoration throughout much of Europe and cult popularity in isolated pockets of the United States.
Zydeco, Cajun
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
and swamp pop
Swamp pop
Swamp rock is a musical genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and traditional French...
, despite having never enjoyed greater regional or mainstream popularity, still thrive throughout French Louisiana
French Louisiana
The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions:* first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France; and,...
and its peripheries, such as Southeastern Texas. These unique Louisianan styles of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
are celebrated as part of the traditional heritage of the people of Louisiana. Conversely, bluegrass music has acquired a sophisticated cachet and distinct identity from mainstream country music through the fusion recordings of artists like Bela Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
, David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
, and the New Grass Revival
New Grass Revival
New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles....
; traditional bluegrass and Appalachian mountain music experienced a strong resurgence after the release of 2001's O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
.
Rock n' roll largely began in the South in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Early rock n' roll musicians from the South include Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
, Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, among many others. Hank Williams, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, while generally regarded as "country" singers, also had a significant role in the development of rock music, giving rise to the original "crossover" genre of rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
. In the 1960s, Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
emerged as a leading competitor of Motown Records, laying thegroundwork for later stylistic innovations in the process.
The South has continued to produce rock music in later decades. In the 1970s, a wave of Southern rock and blues rock groups, led by The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
, ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
, and 38 Special, became popular. Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
-based Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
helped to spearhead the Southern rock movement, and was the original home to many of the genre's most famous groups. At the other end of the spectrum, along with the aforementioned Brown and Stax, New Orleans' Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...
and The Meters
The Meters
The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...
helped to define the funk subgenre of rhythm and blues in the 1970s.
Many who got their start in the regional show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream national and international success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
are two such examples of artists that have transcended genres.
Many of the roots of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
are often considered to come from the South as well, with bands such as R.E.M., Pylon
Pylon (band)
Pylon is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The band's danceable jangle pop sound influenced the Athens music scene and the 1980s American pop underground. Allmusic wrote that Pylon's "role as elder statesmen of the alternative rock explosion is unassailable".-History:All four members of...
and The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
forever associated with the musically fertile college town of Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
. Cities such as Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and Atlanta also have thriving indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
and live music scenes. Austin is home to the long-running South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
music and arts festival, while several influential independent music labels (Sugar Hill, Merge, Yep Rock and the now-defunct Mammoth Records) were founded in the Chapel Hill area. Several influential death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
bands have recorded albums at Morrisound Recording
Morrisound Recording
Morrisound Recording is an audio recording facility in Temple Terrace, Florida, owned and operated by brothers Jim and Tom Morris. Since its opening in 1981, Morrisound has been responsible for the popularization of genres such as heavy metal and death metal, but of course caters to every genre of...
in Temple Terrace, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and the studio is considered an important touchstone in the genre's development.
There is a large underground heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
scene in the Southern United States. Death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
can trace some of its origins to Tampa, Florida. Bands such as Deicide
Deicide (band)
Deicide is an American death metal band formed in 1987. Their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, are ranked second and third place in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era.-As Amon/Carnage :...
, Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
, Six Feet Under
Six Feet Under (band)
Six Feet Under is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed in 1993. The band was originally a side project by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes with guitarist Allen West of Obituary...
, Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 1988, the band has released eleven studio albums, one box set, and one live album...
, among others, have come out of this scene. The Southern United States are also the place where sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
was born and it's where its pioneering acts, Eyehategod
Eyehategod
Eyehategod is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans who formed in 1988. They have become one of the most well known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene...
and Crowbar, come from; as well as other notable bands of the style such as Down
Down (band)
Down is an American heavy metal supergroup that formed in 1991 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Phil Anselmo, guitarist Pepper Keenan, guitarist Kirk Windstein, bassist Pat Bruders and drummer Jimmy Bower. Since their formation, Down has gone on hiatus twice...
and Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 1982. For almost the majority of its existence, the band has consisted of guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean , drummer Reed Mullin and vocalist and rhythm...
. Other well known metal bands from the South include Pantera
Pantera
Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...
, Hellyeah
Hellyeah
Hellyeah is an American heavy metal supergroup, consisting of Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray and guitarist Greg Tribbett, Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, Damageplan bassist Bob Zilla, and former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul. The idea to form a supergroup originated in 2001 on the...
, Lamb of God
Lamb of God (band)
Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler...
, and Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
. This has helped coin the term southern metal
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
which is well received by the vast majority in metal circles around the world.
Recently, the spread of rap music has led to the rise of the musical sub-genre of the Dirty South. Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and New Orleans have long been major centers of hip-hop culture.
Sports
While the South has had a number of Super Bowl winning National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
teams (such as the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
, the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
) the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
and college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
teams, especially the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
and in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
where high school football, especially in smaller communities, is a dominating activity.
Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
became popular in the South, with spring training in Florida from the 1920s, and Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
teams like the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
and Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
being recent World Series victors. Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
is also closely followed in the South (with the South being home to more minor league teams than any other region of the United States).
The South is also the birthplace of NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
auto racing. Other popular sports in the South include golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(which can be played almost year-round because of the South's mild climate), fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, soccer (which is the fastest growing sport in the South), and the hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
of wild game such as deer, birds, and raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s. The hot-weather Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...
, Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
and Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League , and play their home games at the 18,680-seat RBC Center...
were the 1998–1999, 2003–04
2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League began on April 7, 2004, following the 2003–04 regular season. The playoffs ended with the Tampa Bay Lightning securing the Stanley Cup with a seven-game series win over the Calgary Flames on June 7. It was Tampa Bay's first Stanley Cup...
and 2005–06
2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League championship began on April 21, 2006, following the 2005–06 regular season. The sixteen teams that qualified, seeded one through eight from each conference, played best-of-seven series with re-seeding after the conference quarterfinals...
National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
champions. Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Lately, other sports such as soccer, tennis, lacrosse (which was developed by southeastern native Americans), have grown considerably in the area.
The masters golf tournament is held in Augusta, Georgia.
Film
Many critically acclaimed movies have been set in the cultural background of the South. A partial list of these films follows – for a more complete listing of Southern cinema, see list of films set in the Southern United States.- A Time To KillA Time to KillA Time to Kill is a 1989 legal suspense thriller by John Grisham. Grisham's first novel, it was rejected by many publishers before Wynwood Press eventually gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing...
(1996) - Gone with the WindGone with the Wind (film)Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
(1939) - Song of the SouthSong of the SouthSong of the South is a 1946 American musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the...
(1946) - All the King's MenAll the King's Men (1949 film)All the King's Men is a 1949 drama film based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Rossen and starred Broderick Crawford in the role of Willie Stark.-Plot:...
(1949) - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- The Miracle WorkerThe Miracle WorkerThe Miracle Worker is a cycle of 20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. Each of the various dramas describes the relationship between Keller—a deafblind and initially almost feral child—and Anne Sullivan, the teacher who introduced her to...
(1962) - To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird (film)To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
(1962) - DeliveranceDeliveranceDeliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
(1972) - The Color PurpleThe Color Purple (film)The Color Purple is a 1985 American period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg's eighth film as a director , and was a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become famous...
(1985) - Mississippi BurningMississippi BurningMississippi Burning is a 1988 American crime drama film loosely based on the FBI investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1964. The film focuses on two fictional FBI agents who investigate the murders...
(1988) - Driving Miss DaisyDriving Miss DaisyDriving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
(1989) - Steel MagnoliasSteel MagnoliasSteel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
(1989) - Fried Green TomatoesFried Green Tomatoes (film)Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 comedy-drama film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was released in the UK under the novel's full title. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, it stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy,...
(1991) - Forrest GumpForrest GumpForrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
(1994) - Ghosts of MississippiGhosts of MississippiGhosts of Mississippi is a 1996 American drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, and James Woods. The plot is based on the true story of the 1994 trial of Byron De La Beckwith, the white supremacist accused of the 1963 assassination of civil rights activist...
(1996) - Midnight in the Garden of Good and EvilMidnight in the Garden of Good and EvilMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a non-fiction work by John Berendt. Published in 1994, the book was Berendt's first, and became a The New York Times bestseller for 216 weeks following its debut....
(1997) - O Brother, Where Art Thou?O Brother, Where Art Thou?O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
(2000) - Big FishBig FishBig Fish is a 2003 American fantasy adventure film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange and Marion Cotillard. Finney plays Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from...
(2003) - The NotebookThe NotebookThe Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, based on a true story. The novel was later adapted into a popular romance film by the same name in 2004.-Background:...
(2004) - RayRay (film)Ray is a 2004 biographical film focusing on 30 years of the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was directed by Taylor Hackford and starred Jamie Foxx in the title role; Foxx received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.Charles was set to...
(2004) - The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy-drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald...
(2008) - The Blind SideThe Blind Side (film)The Blind Side is a 2009 American semi-biographical drama film. It is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL...
(2009)
Television
Network television shows set in the Southern United States:1950s–1971:
Following the boom of television in the 1950s, many shows were set in the South and/or became very popular with Southerners. They included:
- The Real McCoysThe Real McCoysThe Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
(1957–1963) - The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
(1960–1968) - The Beverly HillbilliesThe Beverly HillbilliesThe Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
(1962–1971) - Petticoat JunctionPetticoat JunctionPetticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
(1963–1970) - Green AcresGreen AcresGreen Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
(1965–1971) - Hee HawHee HawHee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
(1969–1992)
1976–present:
By 1971 sponsors had grown weary of this formula, and CBS consequently cancelled all of its Southern shows. (Only Hee Haw survived, in syndication.) However, in 1976 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
was elected as the first President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
from the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
(or arguably only the first since the Civil War.) The election resulted in reporters swarming into Carter's small southern town of Plains, Georgia
Plains, Georgia
Plains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...
, speculation about his lifestyle and Southern Baptist faith, and renewed interest in Southern culture.
A new crop of television shows followed within the next decade, such as:
- DallasDallas (TV series)Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
(1978–1991) - The Dukes of HazzardThe Dukes of HazzardThe Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
(1979–1985) - Mama's FamilyMama's FamilyMama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
(1983–1990) - The Golden GirlsThe Golden GirlsThe Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
(1985–1992) - MatlockMatlock (TV series)Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
(1986–1995) - Designing WomenDesigning WomenDesigning Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
(1986–1993) - In the Heat of the NightIn the Heat of the Night (TV series)In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
(1988–1995)
In addition, network television shows set in the South since 1990 include:
- Evening ShadeEvening ShadeEvening Shade was an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long...
(1990–1994) - Walker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
(1993–2001) - RebaReba (TV series)Reba is an American sitcom starring Reba McEntire, which ran from 2001 to 2007. For the show's first five seasons, it ran on The WB, with the show transitioning to The CW in its last year.-Synopsis:...
(2001–2007) - King of the HillKing of the HillKing of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
(1997–2009) - One Tree HillOne Tree Hill (TV series)One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
(2003–present) - The RichesThe RichesThe Riches is an FX television series, which originally ran from March 15, 2007 to April 29, 2008, and starred Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.-History:...
(2007–present) - True BloodTrue BloodTrue Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
(2008–present) - JustifiedJustified (TV series)Justified is an American television drama series created by Graham Yost. It is based on Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story "Fire in the Hole". Its central character is Raylan Givens, a deputy U.S. Marshal. The series is set in the city of Lexington, Kentucky...
(2010–present) - Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights (TV series)Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
(2006–2011)
However, critics point out that most of these shows, and most films in general, stereotype Southerners as "hapless hicks" or "a universally simple and often silly group of inhabitants", especially in contrast to the far more complex literary portrayals, and argue that they do not fairly represent Southerners' culture.
Attitudes & Stereotypes of Southerners
Stereotypes, insults, name calling, discriminationDiscrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
and even defamation of Southerners is prevalent in American pop culture, as well as in the media and in historical depictions of Southerners. The frequency of Southerners being portrayed as "persona non grata" in the upper economic classes or as "the other" (as opposed to Americans from other U.S. regions) has decreased somewhat in the last half of the 20th-century, despite Southerners conforming no less to type than they have in previous times. Some stereotypical views often held by non-Southerners typically depict Southerners as laid-back, hospitable, jolly and carefree, but most other Southerner stereotypes are not nearly as positive, including the erroneous conception of the vast majority of Southerners being of lower social class and residing in trailer parks or in (rural) poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
.
A great number of TV shows, movies and comedic representations often portray Southerners as rednecks, hillbillies, white trash
White trash
White trash is an American English pejorative term referring to poor white people in the United States, suggesting lower social class and degraded living standards...
, or simply trash. Other negative treatments depict Southerners as uniformly backward, uneducated, uncouth, wretched, dirty or unhygienic, poor or impoverished, inbred (from family incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
and thus genetically inferior byproducts of the same), fanatically religious (as Fundamentalist Christians and Protestant Evangelicals who "hate" Catholics, Jews and members of non-Christian religions), hyper-realistic
Philosophical realism
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....
, racist and xenophobic, sexist and homophobic, ultraconservative and/or extremely patriotic, self confident
Self-confidence
The socio-psychological concept of self-confidence relates to self-assuredness in one's personal judgment, ability, power, etc., sometimes manifested excessively.Being confident in yourself is infectious if you present yourself well, others will want to follow in your foot steps towards...
, constantly romanticizing slavery/the antebellum era and the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, rude/impolite, speaking with heavy drawls/accents, disrespectful, over-authorizing
Authority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
and even tyrannous
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
to minors
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
, loud and obnoxious, obese and/or overweight, rabid country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and/or NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
fans, and as simpleton "hicks" in "remote" and "isolated" small towns.
Southerners who have traveled and lived in the "North" (Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. states) and the Western U.S. often encounter verbal attacks, teasing and mockery. Some Southerners have openly discussed encountering negative Southern stereotypes in the media. Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace is an American legal commentator, television host, television journalist, and former prosecutor. She frequently discusses issues from what she describes as a victims' rights standpoint, with an outspoken style that has won her both praise and condemnation...
, Georgia-born prosecutor turned talk show host on the CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
network, spoke of her experiences of being viewed as "less intelligent" due to her Southern accent while she lived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Some popular nicknames for the South in the media are "red states" or "flyover states", which indicate an assumption of less-importance or that they are on the American political fringe.
Pronounced regionalisms and cultural differences are often cited as the cause of stereotypes about Southerners. A very popular negative image of white Southerners is that many are secret members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
or other fringe movements such as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the John Birch Society. Another is they are all radical right-wingers or "neo-cons" (conservatives) registered in the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
or "gun-nuts" and Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
protestors. White Southerners are often displayed as being parochial and intolerant of anything different from their own homogeneous provincial culture, despite the fact that Southern culture is not monolithic, as it varies greatly by state, church and ethnic origin (for example, the Cajuns of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and the "hillbilly" culture of southern Appalachia).
Art
Collections of Southern art can be found at the Ogden Museum of Southern ArtOgden Museum of Southern Art
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in New Orleans, within the Central Business District adjacent to Lee Circle. It is associated with the University of New Orleans...
in New Orleans and the Morris Museum of Art
Morris Museum of Art
The Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the collection and exhibition of art and artists of the American South....
in Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
. Southern expressionism and folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
are types of art generally considered to be part of Southern art. The Southern Arts Federation
Southern Arts Federation
South Arts, formerly the Southern Arts Federation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts...
maintains a registry of contemporary Southern artists (including visual artists, performing artists, media artists and writers) who have been recognized by their state arts council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
s based on the outstanding quality of their work.
Some famous folk artists from the American South include Clementine Hunter
Clementine Hunter
Clementine Hunter was a self-taught African American folk artist from the Cane River region in Louisiana. She was born on a plantation said to be the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin worked as a farm hand, never learning to read or write...
(Natchitoches, Louisiana) and Howard Finster
Howard Finster
Howard Finster was an American artist and Baptist reverend from Georgia. He claimed to be inspired by God to spread the gospel through the environment of Paradise Garden and over 46,000 pieces of art. His creations overlap folk art, outsider art, naïve art, and visionary art...
(Summerville, Georgia) who mixed southern spirituality and traditional religious motifs with surrealism and dream-like post-modernism. Finster's work was featured on album covers by bands such as Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
(Little Creatures, 1985) and R.E.M. (Reckoning, 1984). He has a permanent display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and his Paradise Gardens is still open to the public almost ten years after his passing.
Chris Flesher (Tennessee) has sold folk art as pieces and as concepts all over the world and has a collection at the American Folk Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museum is a museum devoted to American folk art, as well as the work of international self-taught artists. It has branches at 45 West 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in Midtown Manhattan .In May 2011 the Museum of Modern Art bought its 53rd Street location...
in New York City as well as in Carmel, California. The influence of his art is mainly centered around the enchanting and beautiful landscape of the Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
Walter Inglis Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson was an American painter, writer, and naturalist.Known to his family as "Bob", he was born in New Orleans to George Walter Anderson, a grain broker, and Annette McConnell Anderson, member of a prominent New Orleans family, who had studied art at Newcomb College, where she had...
and his art is forever associated with the natural beauty of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and many of his family members continue as artists there still today.
Pop artist Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
and African-American modernist Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden was an African American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, and collage.-Education:...
are two other prominent artists from the South: Johns was a native of Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, while Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
.
A major center of American modernism was located at the Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
in the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,511 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the Black Mountain range of the Blue Ridge range in the Southern Appalachians.-History:Black...
. The history of the college – which attracted John Cage, Walter Gropius, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, Willem de Kooning and other pioneers of varied mid-20th century arts – has been extensively detailed in several books and studies (notably, Mary Emma Harris' Arts At Black Mountain College and Vincent Katz' Black Mountain College: Experiment In Art). The school, which operated as an interdisciplinary, progressive institution for 23 years, was a key incubator for the American artistic avant-garde of the 1960s and beyond.
See also
- Deep SouthDeep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
- History of the Southern United StatesHistory of the Southern United StatesThe history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America...
- Politics of the Southern United StatesPolitics of the Southern United StatesPolitics of the Southern United States refers to the political landscape of the Southern United States. Due to the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, the American South has been prominently involved in numerous political issues faced by the United States as a whole, including States'...
- Southern SpacesSouthern SpacesSouthern Spaces is a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal that publishes articles, photo essays and images, presentations, and short videos about real and imagined spaces and places of the Southern United States and their connections to the wider world...
- Southernization (U.S.)Southernization (U.S.)The idea of Southernization came from the observation that "Southern" values and beliefs were becoming more central to political success, reaching an apogee in the 1990s, with a Democratic president and vice-president from the South and Congressional leaders in both parties being from the South...
- Culture of the United StatesCulture of the United StatesThe Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
- RedneckRedneckRedneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
- Plain Folk of the Old SouthPlain Folk of the Old SouthThe Plain Folk of the Old South refers to the middling class of white farmers in the Southern United States before the Civil War, located between the rich planters and the poor whites. At the time they were often called "yeomen". They owned land and had no slaves or only a few. Most of them were...
Sources
- B. A. Botkin; A Treasury of Southern Folklore: Stories, Ballads, Traditions, and Folkways of the People of the South (1949)
- Cash, W. J.W. J. CashW.J. Cash, or Joseph Wilbur Cash, was an American author and journalist known primarily for his works about the American South.-Early life:...
The Mind of the South (1941) - James C. Cobb Away Down South : A History of Southern Identity (2005)
- Fischer, D. H. Albion's seed: Four British folkways in America Oxford University Press 1989
- Gorn, E. J. "Gouge, and bite, pull hair and scratch: The social significance of fighting in the southern backcountry". American Historical Review (1985). 90:1, 18–43.
- Richard Gray and Owen Robinson, eds. A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American South (2004)
- Mary Emma Harris The Arts at Black Mountain College The MIT Press (1987)
- Anthony Harkins; Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon Oxford University Press, 2004
- Suzanne W. Jones and Sharon Monteith, eds.South to a New Place: Region, Literature, Culture Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
- Charles W Joyner. Traditions: Southern History & Folk Culture 1999
- Vincent Katz Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art The MIT Press (2003)
- John Lowe and Fred Hobson, eds. Bridging Southern Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Approach (2005)
- Grady McWhiney; Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South University of Alabama Press, 1989
- Naipaul, V. S. A turn in the South (1989).
- Ted Ownby; Subduing Satan: Religion, Recreation, and Manhood in the Rural South, 1865–1920 University of North Carolina Press, 1990
- Jeffrey M. Pilcher; "Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, New Mex, or Whose Mex? Notes on the Historical Geography of Southwestern Cuisine" Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 43, 2001
- John Shelton Reed. The Enduring South: Subcultural Persistence in Mass Society (1986 (ISBN 0-8078-4162-5)
- John Shelton Reed. My Tears Spoiled My Aim: And Other Reflections on Southern Culture (1993) (ISBN 0-8262-0886-X)
- John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the South (1996)
- James M. Volo and Dorothy Denneen Volo, eds; The Antebellum Period Greenwood Press, 2004
- Wyatt-Brown, B. The Shaping of Southern Culture: Honor, Grace, and War, 1760s–1890s 2001
- Zelinsky, Wilbur. The cultural geography of the United States Prentice-Hall. (1973).