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The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply The South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including early European colonial settlements, the doctrine of states' rights, the institution of slavery and the legacy of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, the South has developed its own customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines.
As defined by the United States Census Bureau,[1] the Southern region of the United States includes 16 states (with a total 2006 estimated population of 109,083,752) and is split into three smaller units, or divisions:
Other definitions include:
The popular definition of the "South" is more informal and is generally associated with those states that seceded during the Civil War to form the Confederate States of America. Those states share commonalities of history and culture that carry on to the present day. The "border states" of the Civil War- specifically Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware roughly form the northern boundary of the "South". These states have a history of straddling the North-South divide, which was made clear when they did not secede during the Civil War even though they allowed slavery. Depending on the context, these states may or may not be considered part of the South. West Virginia is a unique case since it seceded from Virginia out of reluctance to join the Confederacy and retains a sense of independence; whether it is culturally part of the South again depends on context and on what distinction is drawn between Appalachian and Southern culture.
Biologically, the South is a vast, diverse region, having numerous climatic zones, including alpine, temperate, sub-tropical, tropical, and arid. Many crops grow easily in its soils and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some parts of the South, particularly the Southeast, have landscapes characterized by the presence of live oaks, magnolia trees, yellow jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods. Another common environment is the bayous and swampland of the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana. The South is a victim of kudzu, an invasive fast-growing vine which covers large amounts of land and kills indigenous plant life.
The predominant culture of the South has its origins with the settlement of the region by British colonists. In the 17th century, most were of English origins, but in the 18th century, large groups of Scots and Ulster-Scots (later called the Scots-Irish) settled in Appalachia and the Piedmont. These people engaged in warfare, trade, and cultural exchanges with the Native Americans already in the region (such as the Creek Indians and Cherokees). After 1700, large groups of African slaves were brought in to work on the large plantations that dominated export agriculture, growing tobacco, rice, and indigo. Cotton became dominant after 1800. The explosion of cotton cultivation[3] made the "peculiar institution" of slavery an integral part of the South's early 19th century economy.
The oldest university in the South, the College of William and Mary, was founded in Virginia; it pioneered in the teaching of political economy and educated future U.S. Presidents Jefferson, Monroe and Tyler, all from Virginia. Indeed, the entire region dominated politics in the First Party System era: for example, four of the first five Presidents— Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe—were from Virginia.
Two major political issues that festered in the first half of the 19th century caused political alignment along sectional lines, strengthened the identities of North and South as distinct regions with certain strongly opposed interests and fed the arguments over states' rights that culminated in secession and the Civil War. One of these issues concerned the protective tariffs enacted to assist the growth of the manufacturing sector, primarily in the North. In 1832, in resistance to federal legislation increasing tariffs, South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure in which a state would in effect repeal a Federal law. Soon a naval flotilla was sent to Charleston harbor, and the threat of landing ground troops was used to compel the collection of tariffs. A compromise was reached by which the tariffs would be gradually reduced, but the underlying argument over states' rights continued to escalate in the following decades.
The second issue concerned slavery, primarily the question of whether slavery would be permitted in newly admitted states. The issue was initially finessed by political compromises designed to balance the number of "free" and "slave" states. The issue resurfaced in more virulent form, however, around the time of the Mexican War, which raised the stakes by adding new territories primarily on the Southern side of the imaginary geographic divide.
By 1855, the South was losing political power to the more populous North and was locked in a series of constitutional and political battles with the North regarding states' rights and the status of slavery in the territories. President James K. Polk imposed a low-tariff regime on the country (Walker Tariff of 1846), which angered Pennsylvania industrialists, and blocked proposed federal funding of national roads and port improvements. Once the northern Republicans came to power in 1861, many Southerners felt it was time to secede from the union.
Seven cotton states decided on secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. They formed the Confederate States of America. In 1861, they were joined by four more states. The United States government refused to recognize the seceding states as a new country and kept in operation its second to last fort in the South, which the Confederacy captured in April 1861 at the Battle of Fort Sumter, in the port of Charleston, triggering the Civil War. In the four years of war which followed, the South found itself as the primary battleground, with all but two of the main battles taking place on Southern soil. The Confederacy retained a low tariff regime for European imports but imposed a new tax on all imports from the North. The Union blockade stopped most commerce from entering the South, so the Confederate taxes hardly mattered. The Southern transportation system depended primarily on river and coastal traffic by boat; both were shut down by the Union Navy. The small railroad system virtually collapsed, so that by 1864 internal travel was so difficult that the Confederate economy was crippled.
The Union (so-called because they fought for the United States of America) eventually defeated the Confederate States of America (the formal name of the southern American states during the Civil War). The South suffered much more than the North, primarily because the war was fought almost entirely in the South. Overall, the Confederacy suffered 95,000 killed in action and 165,000 who died of disease, for a total of 260,000,[4] out of a total white Southern population at the time of around 5.5 million. Northern casualties exceeded Southern casualties, however.
After the Civil War, the South was largely devastated in terms of its population, infrastructure and economy. The republic also found itself under Reconstruction, with military troops in direct political control of the South. Many white Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy lost many of the basic rights of citizenship (such as the ability to vote) while with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which outlawed slavery), the 14th Amendment (which granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans) and the 15th amendment (which extended the right to vote to black males), African Americans in the South began to enjoy more rights than they had ever had in the region.
By the 1890s, though, a political backlash against these rights had developed in the South. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan—a clandestine organization sworn to perpetuate white supremacy—used lynchings, and other forms of violence and intimidation to keep African Americans from exercising their political rights (the well-known cross burnings did not become a Klan ritual until the emergence of the Second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s), while the Jim Crow laws were created to legally do the same thing. It would not be until the late 1960s that these changes would be undone by the American Civil Rights Movement.
The first major oil well in the South was drilled at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas, on the morning of January 10, 1901. Other oil fields were later discovered nearby in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting “Oil Boom” permanently transformed the economy of the West South Central states and led to the first significant economic expansion after the Civil War.
The economy, which for the most part had still not recovered from the Civil War, was dealt a double blow by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the economy suffered significant reversals and millions were left unemployed. Beginning in 1934 and lasting until 1939, an ecological disaster of severe wind and drought caused an exodus from Texas and Arkansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle region and the surrounding plains, in which over 500,000 Americans were homeless, hungry and jobless.[5] Thousands left the region forever to seek economic opportunities along the West Coast.
Nearly all southerners, black and white, suffered as a result of the Civil War. With the region devastated by its loss and the destruction of its civil infrastructure, much of the South was generally unable to recover economically until after World War II. The South was noted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the "number one priority" in terms of need of assistance during the Great Depression, instituting programs such as the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Locked into low productivity agriculture, the region's growth was slowed by limited industrial development, low levels of entrepreneurship, and the lack of capital investment.
World War II marked a time of change in the South as new industries and military bases sprang up across many areas of the region providing badly need capital and infrastructure. People from all parts of the US came to the South for military training and work in the regions many bases and new industries. Farming shifted from cotton and tobacco to include soybeans, corn, and other foods. This growth increased in the 1960 and greatly accerated into the 80's and 90's. Large urban areas with over 4 million people rose in Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Rapid expansion in industries such as autos, telecommunications, textiles, banking, and aviation gave some states in the South industrial strength to rival large states in the Northeast and Midwest. By the 2000 census The South along with the west was leading the nation in population growth. However, with this growth came long commute times and serious air pollution problems is cites such as Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, and industrial areas of North Carolina.
The South has historically been financially disadvantaged when compared to the United States as a whole. While much of the Southern United States has come a long way since World War II, this problem still persists today in some areas. Areas like the Black Belt, the eastern Kentucky and southern/southwestern West Virginia area in Appalachia, and the Mexican border area along the Rio Grande in Texas make up the brunt of poverty in the South today.
Of all the regions of the United States the South is most distinct, in both the minds of its residents and those in other parts of the country. Depending on one's attitude, and perhaps latitude, the South and the "idea" of the South is and/or has been feared, revered, hated, loved, and stereotyped, for better or worse. It is disdained by some, yet an object of intense attachment and loyalty for others. And these emotions are not necessarily aligned with the one Mason and Dixon surveyed. Some born in the South shun their history and heritage, while there are many transplanted northerners who will frankly state they would never, ever, return to colder climes.
All in all though, the South exists with a certain separateness from the rest of the country. Perhaps it might be summed up well by certain passages in Tim Jacobson's book "Heritage of the South." Jacobson wrote:
"More than any other part of America, the South stands apart...Thousands of Northerners and foreigners have migrated to it...but Southerners they will not become. For this is still a place where you must have either been born or have "people" there, to feel it is your native ground.
Natives will tell you this. They are proud to be Americans, but they are also proud to be Virginians, South Carolinians, Tennesseans, and Texans. But they are conscious of another loyalty too, one that transcends the usual ties of national patriotism and state pride. It is a loyalty to a place where habits are strong and memories are long. If those memories could speak, they would tell stories of a region powerfully shaped by its history and determined to pass it on to future generations.
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. Rural communities often developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.
The southern lifestyle, especially in the deep south, is often joked about. Southerners are often generally viewed as more laid back, and relaxed even in stressed situations. That, of course, is a stereotype, and not always the case. But, traditionally, the southern lifestyle is viewed as slower paced when in more rural areas. Southerners are also stereotyped as being resistant to change, especially in societal circles, and mannerisms. Southerners are also reputed to be very polite and well-mannered and particularly welcoming to visitors; This characteristic has been labelled Southern hospitality.
Until the mid 19th century traditional Southerners were either Episcopalian or Presbyterian due to the South's close ancestral ties to England and Scotland. Around the beginning of the Civil War and from thereafter, Baptist and Methodist churches became the most prevalent forms of Christianity in the region. Perhaps more than any other region of an industrialized nation, the South has a high concentration of Christian adherents, resulting in the reference to parts of the South as the "Bible Belt", from the presence of evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants, conservative Catholicism, as well as Pentacostalism and Charismatics.
There are significant Catholic populations in most cities in the South, such as New Orleans, St. Louis and Louisville. Rural areas of the Gulf coast, particularly those populated by Cajuns and Creoles, are also heavily Catholic. In general, the inland regions of the South such as Arkansas and Tennessee have stronger concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, and other Protestants. Eastern and northern Texas are heavily Protestant, while the southern parts of the state have Mexican American Catholic majorities. Southern Florida is home to the country's second largest concentration of Jewish people. Cities such as Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston have significant Jewish and Muslim communities. Immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia have brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the region as well.
Southern American English is a dialect of the English language spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between, for example, the Appalachian region and the coastal "low country" around Charleston and Savannah, Georgia. Along this part of the southeastern coast Gullah is still spoken by some African Americans, particularly the older generation. The South Midlands dialect was influenced by the migration of Southern dialect speakers into the American West. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English, shares many similarities with Southern dialect. Folklorists in the 1920s and later argued that Appalachian language patterns more closely mirror Elizabethan English than other accents in the United States.[6]
The cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. But just as history and culture varies across the broad region known as the South, the traditional cuisine varies as well. In modern times, there is little difference between the diet of typical Southerners and the diet in other regions of the U.S, but the South draws on multiple unique culinary influences to form its "traditional" foods. "Southern Cuisine" also provides some of the best examples of distinctly American cuisine - that is, foods and styles that were born in the United States as opposed to adopted from elsewhere.
The food most commonly associated with the term "Southern Food" is often called "soul food" and is characterized by the heavy use of high-calorie lards and fats. This style is often attributed to influence of the African-American slave population though it draws the mix of African influences as well as Native American, Scots-Irish, and others. Southern fried chicken, vegetables cooked in lard or fat, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and biscuits are just a few examples of foods typically lumped into this broad category.
Barbecue is a food typically associated with the South. Consisting of meat that has been slow-cooked and heavily seasoned, it is characterized by sharp regional divides in style-preferences. In Texas it is often beef based, while in North Carolina it is typically pork based and further subdivided into Eastern and Western Carolina styles. South Carolina also has a distinct mustard-based sauce that is unique to the midlands area. Kansas City, Missouri and Memphis are also considered Barbecue hubs, drawing on styles from multiple areas. Western Kentucky is also known for its barbecue, with Owensboro hosting the International Bar-B-Q Festival the second weekend of May.
The unique history of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta provides a unique culinary environment as well. Cajun and Creole evolved from the broad mix of cultural influences in this area - including Acadian, African, Caribbean, French, Native American, and Spanish.
Texas and its proximity and shared history with Mexico ultimately helped give rise to the modern Tex-Mex cuisine.
As with most of America, a wide variety of cuisines of other origins are now available throughout the South, such as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, Thai, Japanese, and Indian as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, and so-called "home cooking" establishments.
Many of the most popular American soft drinks today originated in the South (Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Royal Crown Cola and its related Nehi products and Dr Pepper). In addition, there are some soft drinks available only in the South to this day (such as Sundrop and Cheerwine), demonstrating its instrumental history in developing these types of drinks. A highly sweetened iced tea, typically called sweet tea is also associated with Southern cuisine. Lemonade is also a popular summer beverage. Dr. Enuf is also a regional favorite and is not widely available elsewhere. Bottled in Johnson City, TN, the beverage has been around since 1949 and is considered to be an acquired taste.
The South has long had an ambivalent attitude toward alcoholic beverages. Widespread support for Prohibition existed in the Southern states before and after the eighteenth amendment was in force in the United States. 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 countries 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 conservative and religious circles.
The upper South, specifically Kentucky, is known for its production of bourbon whiskey, which is also a popular base for cocktails. 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. The mint julep is similarly depicted as a popular beverage among more affluent Southerners.
The South was distinctive for its production of tobacco, which earned premium prices from around the world. Most farmers grew a little for their own use or traded with neighbors who grew it. It was the main cash crop in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland. Pennsylvania and Delaware also grew Tobacco but to a lesser extent. Commercial sales became important in the late 19th century as major tobacco companies rose in the South, becoming one the largest employers in cities like Durham, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, and Richmond, Virginia. In 1938, R.J. Reynolds marketed eighty-four brands of chewing tobacco, twelve brands of smoking tobacco, and the top-selling Camel brand of cigarettes. Reynolds sold large quantities of chewing tobacco, though that market peaked about 1910 as people shifted to cigarettes.[7]
In the late 20th century, use of smokeless tobacco by adolescent American males increased by 450% for chewing tobacco and by 1500%, or fifteen-fold, for snuff. From 1978 to 1984, there was a 15% compound annual growth rate in U.S. smokeless tobacco sales. Usage is highest in the South and in the rural west. In 1992, 30% of all male high school seniors in the southeastern United States were regular users of chewing tobacco or snuff—more than smoked cigarettes, according to the Center for Disease Control.[8][9]
A historian of the American South in the late 1860s reported on typical usage in the region where it was grown, paying close attention to class and gender:[10] <blockquote> The chewing of tobacco was well-nigh universal. This habit had been widespread among the agricultural population of America both North and South before the war. Soldiers had found the quid a solace in the field and continued to revolve it in their mouths upon returning to their homes. Out of doors where his life was principally led the chewer spat upon his lands without offence to other men, and his homes and public buildings were supplied with spittoons. Brown and yellow parabolas were projected to right and left toward these receivers, but very often without the careful aim which made for cleanly living. Even the pews of fashionable churches were likely to contain these familiar conveniences. The large numbers of Southern men, and these were of the better class (officers in the Confederate army and planters, worth $20,000 or more, and barred from general amnesty) who presented themselves for the pardon of President Johnson, while they sat awaiting his pleasure in the ante-room at the White House, covered its floor with pools and rivulets of their spittle. An observant traveller in the South in 1865 said that in his belief seven-tenths of all persons above the age of twelve years, both male and female, used tobacco in some form. Women could be seen at the doors of their cabins in their bare feet, in their dirty one-piece cotton garments, their chairs tipped back, smoking pipes made of corn cobs into which were fitted reed stems or goose quills. Boys of eight or nine years of age and half-grown girls smoked. Women and girls "dipped" in their houses, on their porches, in the public parlors of hotels and in the streets. </blockquote>
Perhaps the most famous southern writer is William Faulkner, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to American writings (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).
Other well-known Southern writers include Mark Twain (whose Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are two of the most read books about the South), 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 and Robert Penn Warren.
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 offers some of the richest music in the United States. 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 and Ireland. Blues was developed in the rural South by Blacks at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music, spirituals, country music, rhythm and blues, soul music, bluegrass, jazz (including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin), beach music, Appalachian folk music and forms of Heavy Metal, all 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 black 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.
Zydeco, Cajun, and swamp pop, though never reaching the popularity of the preceding genres across the region, remain popular throughout French Louisiana and peripheral regions (including Southeast Texas). These unique Louisianian styles of folk music are celebrated as part of the traditional heritage of the people of Louisiana.
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 others. Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, while generally regarded as "country" singers, also had a significant role in the development of rock music. Chuck Berry, sometimes considered the most important early rock n' roll figure along with Elvis, is from St. Louis, Missouri.
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.
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. and The B-52's forever associated with the musically fertile college town of Athens, Georgia. Cities such as Austin and Atlanta also have thriving indie rock and live music scenes.
Recently, the spread of rap music (which is arguably the only major American music not started in the South) has led to the rise of the sub-genre Dirty South. Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and New Orleans have long been major centers of hip-hop culture.
While the South has had a number of Super Bowl-winning National Football League teams, the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow non-professional football teams. NCAA college football is particularly popular, especially competitions within the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences in which the majority of large southern public universities play. The University of Alabama is disputedly tied with Notre Dame for the most (12) national football championships, and the University of Oklahoma has the highest college football winning percentage since 1936, when the AP poll was implemented. It also features very fierce, deep-seated rivalries like the Iron Bowl played annually between Auburn University and the University of Alabama near the end of every November.
High school football is extremely competitive, especially in Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida; Texas high school football culture in particular has been featured repeatedly in movies and books such as Friday Night Lights and Remember the Titans.
Basketball, particularly college basketball, is also very popular in the South, especially in North Carolina and Kentucky; the two states are home to four of the winningest and most NCAA tournament included programs in college basketball history: the North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats,and the Louisville Cardinals.[11]. [12]
Baseball's popularity is often tied to Major League Baseball teams like the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, and Florida Marlins. 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), and college baseball is particularly popular in the southernmost tier of states.
The South is the birthplace of NASCAR auto racing, which has an enormous and devoted following. The organization is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, the vast majority of teams center their operations in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina, and the majority of NASCAR drivers have historically come from the South. The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season starts each year in Daytona Beach with the Daytona 500, and the series' fastest track is Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Talladega, Alabama is home to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The South would not seem to be a prominent winter-sports destination, but the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes have all won the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup in recent years. In addition, the mountains of West Virginia and the western parts of Virginia and North Carolina climates cold enough to host several popular downhill skiing resorts. Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
Many rural and some suburban Southerners view hunting and fishing as a way of life; deer and duck hunting and bass fishing are of particular social and economic importance. The prevalence of gun ownership among many Southerners is closely tied to these traditions, and gun control measures often encounter vehement opposition in the South in part due to this cultural heritage.
The South has contributed to some of the most-loved and financially successful movies of all time, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Several major motion pictures have been filmed in Memphis, Tennessee, in recent years, including Mystery Train (1989), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), Memphis Belle (1990), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Firm (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Cast Away (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Hustle & Flow (2005), Walk the Line (2005), Forty Shades Of Blue (2005), and Black Snake Moan (2007).
The second largest studio complex in the United States, EUE Screen Gems, is located in Wilmington, North Carolina. Over the past 20 years, many films and television programs have been made on location in eastern North Carolina.[13]
There continues to be debate about what constitutes the basics elements of Southern culture.[14] This debate is influenced partly because the South is such a large region. As a result, there are a number of cultural variations on display in the region.
Among the variations found in Southern culture are:
While areas west of Texas are rarely if ever included as parts of the "South," many areas of New Mexico, Arizona, and California were predominantly settled by Southerners, at least in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For instance, pro-Confederate governments were established what is now Arizona and New Mexico during the Civil War. 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. Similar migrations occurred after World War II of Southerners into the industrial cities up the Midwest, particularly in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Many Southerners who have emigrated to other states in order to vastly improve their lives continue nevertheless to identify proudly as Southerners, without having to continue living in the South.
African Americans from the South moved to the industrial cities of the Midwest and West Coast in large numbers during the Great Migration beginning in World War I and extending after World War II. Many African Americans throughout the United States, as well as a considerable number of whites, have "Northern" and "Southern" branches of their families. Many elements of African American culture, such as music, literary forms, and cuisine remain rooted in the South.
In the century after Reconstruction, the white South strongly identified with the Democratic Party. This lock on power was so strong the region was politically called the Solid South. The Republicans controlled parts of the Appalachian mountains and competed for power in the border states, but otherwise it was rare for a Southern politician to be a Republican before the 1960s.
Increasing support for civil rights legislation by the Democratic party at the national level during the 1940s caused a split between conservative Southern Democrats and other Democrats in the country. Until the passage of the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s, conservative Southern Democrats ("Dixiecrats") argued that only they could defend the region from the onslaught of northern liberals and the civil rights movement. In response to the Brown decision of 1954, the Southern Manifesto was issued in March 1956, by 101 southern congressmen (19 senators, 82 House members). It denounced the Brown decisions as a "clear abuse of judicial power [that] climaxes a trend in the federal judiciary undertaking to legislate in derogation of the authority of Congress and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the states and the people." The manifesto lauded "those states which have declared the intention to resist enforced integration by any lawful means." It was signed by all southern senators except Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson and Albert Gore, Sr., of Tennessee. Virginia closed schools in Warren County, Charlottesville, and Norfolk rather than integrate, but no other state followed suit. An element resisted integration, led by Democratic governors Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Ross Barnett of Mississippi, Lester Maddox of Georgia, and, especially George Wallace of Alabama. They appealed to a blue collar electorate.
The Democratic Party's dramatic reversal on civil rights issues culminated when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Meanwhile, the Republicans were beginning their Southern strategy, which aimed to solidify the Republican Party's electoral hold over conservative white Southerners. Southern Democrats took notice that 1964 Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act, and in the presidential election of 1964, Goldwater's only electoral victories outside his home state of Arizona were in the states of the Deep South.
The transition to a Republican stronghold took decades. First, the states started voting Republican in presidential elections—the Democrats countered by nominating such Southerners as Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and Al Gore in 2000. Then the states began electing Republican senators and finally governors. Georgia was the last state to do so, with Sonny Perdue taking the governorship in 2002. In addition to the middle class and business base, Republicans attracted strong majorities from the evangelical Christian vote, which had not been a distinct political demographic prior to 1980.
There was major resistance to desegregation in the mid 1960s to early 1970s. Those issues faded away, replaced by culture wars between the conservatives and liberals over issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
The South has produced the first winning presidential candidates for all but one major political party in the history of the United States. The exception is the Federalist Party which claimed its first (and only) presidential victory with John Adams, of Massachusetts, in 1796. The following is a list of presidents who represent their party's first candidate to reach the country's highest office:
Additionally, the South produced most of the U.S. Presidents prior to the Civil War. Memories of the war made it impossible for a Southerner to become President unless he either moved North (like Woodrow Wilson) or was a vice president who moved up (like Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson). In 1976, Jimmy Carter defied this trend and became the first Southerner to break the pattern since Zachary Taylor in 1848. With one exception, Ronald Reagan, all the Presidents since 1976 had their political base in the South.
The South has produced numerous other well-known politicians and political movements.
In 1948, a group of Democratic congressmen, led by Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, split from the Democrats in reaction to an anti-segregation speech given by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, founding the States Rights Democratic or Dixiecrat Party. During that year's Presidential election, the party unsuccessfully ran Thurmond as its candidate.
In the 1968 Presidential election, Alabama Governor George C. Wallace ran for President on the American Independent Party ticket. Wallace ran a "law and order" campaign similar to that of Republican candidate, Richard Nixon. Nixon's Southern Strategy of electoral votes downplayed race issues and focused on culturally conservative values, such as family issues, patriotism, and cultural issues that appealed to Southern Baptists.
In 1994, another Southern politician, Newt Gingrich, ushered in 12 years of GOP control of the House. Gingrich became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 1995, but was forced to resign after mishandling the impeachment of Southerner Bill Clinton in 1998. Tom DeLay was the most powerful Republican leader in Congress until his abrupt criminal indictment in 2005. Most recent Republican Senate leaders are from the South, including Howard Baker of Tennessee, Trent Lott of Mississippi, Bill Frist of Tennessee, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
African Americans have a long history in the South, stretching back to the early settlements in the region. Beginning in the early 17th century, black slaves were purchased from slave traders who brought them from Africa(or, less often, from the Caribbean) to work on plantations. Most slaves arrived in the 1700-1750 period. + African Americans have a long history in the South, stretching back to the early settlements in the region. Beginning in the early 17th century, slaves were purchased from slave traders who brought them to work on plantations. Most slaves arrived in the 1700-1750 period.
- Slavery ended with the South's defeat in the American Civil War. During the Reconstruction period that followed, African Americans saw advancements in the civil rights and political power in the South. However, as Reconstruction ended, Southern Redeemers moved to prevent black people from holding power. After 1890, the Deep South disfranchised many African Americans. The leading white demagogue was Senator Ben Tillman of South Carolina, who proudly proclaimed in 1900, "We have done our level best [to prevent blacks from voting]...we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it."[20]
- With no voting rights and no voice in government, blacks were subjected to what was known as the Jim Crow laws, a system of universal segregation and discrimination in all public facilities. Blacks were given separate schools (in which all students, teachers and administrators were black). Most hotels and restaurants served only whites. Movie theaters had separate seating; railroads had separate cars; buses were divided forward and rear. Neighborhoods were segregated as well. Blacks and whites did shop in the same stores. Blacks were not called to serve on juries, and they were not allowed to vote in the Democratic primary elections (which usually decided the election outcome).
In response to this treatment, the South witnessed two major events in the lives of 20th century African Americans: the Great Migration and the American Civil Rights Movement.
The Great Migration began during World War I, hitting its high point during World War II. During this migration, Black people left the racism and lack of opportunities in the South and settled in northern cities like Chicago, where they found work in factories and other sectors of the economy. (Katzman, 1996) However, Chicago quickly became the most segregated city in the north. This migration produced a new sense of independence in the Black community and contributed to the vibrant Black urban culture seen during the Harlem Renaissance.
The migration also empowered the growing Civil Rights Movement. While the movement existed in all parts of the United States, its focus was against the Jim Crow laws in the South. Most of the major events in the movement occurred in the South, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Mississippi Freedom Summer, the March on Selma, Alabama, and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition, some of the most important writings to come out of the movement were written in the South, such as King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Many civil rights landmarks can be found around the South. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta includes a museum that chronicles the American Civil Rights Movement as well as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home on Auburn Avenue. Additionally, Ebenezer Baptist Church is located in the Sweet Auburn district as is the King Center, location of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King's gravesites.
As a result of the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws across the South were dropped. Today, while many people believe race relations in the South to still be a contested issue, many others now believe the region leads the country in working to end racial strife. A second migration appears to be underway, with African Americans from the North moving to the South in record numbers.
The Battle Flag of the Confederacy has become a highly contentious image throughout the United States because of its use as a symbol of defiance by many in the South who opposed the Civil Rights Movement. Although it and other reminders of the Old South can be found on automobile bumper stickers, on tee shirts, and flown from homes, restrictions (notably on public buildings) have been imposed as a result of activism and boycotts.
Neo-confederate groups such as the League of the South continue to promote secession from the United States, citing a desire to protect and defend the heritage of the South. On the other side of this issue are groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which believes that the League of the South is a hate group, and vice versa.
Other symbols of the Antebellum South such as the Bonnie Blue Flag, Magnolia trees, and Palmetto trees, are met with less controversy.
In the last two generations, the South has changed dramatically. After two centuries in which the region's main economic engine was agriculture, the South has in recent decades seen a boom in its service economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries, and the financial sector. Examples of this include the surge in tourism in Florida and along the Gulf Coast; numerous new automobile production plants such as Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama and the BMW production plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina; the two largest research parks in the country, Research Triangle Park in North Carolina (the world's largest research park) and the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama (the world's fourth largest research park); and the corporate headquarters of major banking corporations Bank of America and Wachovia in Charlotte, Regions Financial, Amsouth, and Compass in Birmingham, SunTrust and the district headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and BB&T in Winston-Salem; several Atlanta-based corporate headquarters and cable television networks such as CNN, TBS, TNT, Turner South, Cartoon Network, and The Weather Channel. This economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to boast some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States.[21]
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