U.S. Southern states

The U.S. Southern states or the South, also known colloquially as Dixie, constitute a distinctive region covering a large portion of the United States, with its own unique heritage, historical perspective, customs, musical styles, and cuisine. There are some overlaps with the Southwest, Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic States.

Geography

The largest city in the region is Houston, Texas, when measured in terms of population within city limits. The largest metropolitan area is the Washington, D.C area, which includes Baltimore, Maryland. The Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas metropolitan area is also slightly larger than Houston.

Other important cities include Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Charleston, Charlotte, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Lauderdale, Jackson, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Mobile, Montgomery, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond, San Antonio, Savannah, Shreveport, Tampa, Tulsa, and Washington.

The region has numerous climatic zones ranging from temperate, to sub-tropical, to tropical, to 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 landscape characterized by the presence live oaks, magnolia trees, jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods.

History

Settled predominately by British colonists in the early 17th century; the South, as it came to be known, developed as a culturally separate region of the United States. Early in its history, tobacco became one of the prime cash crops, while after the 1790s, cotton cultivation predominated. Also, the enslavement of Africans and their descendents as farm labor brought new sectional differences to the South. Integral in the political history of the United States, the South supplied many of the United States' early military and political leaders, including four of its first five presidents.

Sectional differences surrounding the issues of taxation, tariffs, slavery, and states' rights led to the secession of most of the Southern states after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The Southern states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America, which was subsequently defeated by the Union during the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Devastated by its loss, and destruction of civil infrastructure, much of the South was generally unable to recover economically until World War II. Noted by President Franklin Roosevelt as the "number one priority" in terms of need of assistance during the Great Depression (1929-1939), the lack of capital investment also contributed to its economic hardship.

Politics, populism and conservatism

Although the South as a whole defies stereotyping, it is nonetheless known for entrenched political populism and conservatism. Additionally, support for traditional causes is often found in the South, including in resistance to same-sex marriage and abortion.

Culture

Race relations

Religion

Cuisine

As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. The variety of cuisines range from Tex Mex, Cajun and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina & Memphis styles of Barbeque. Beverages of choice include "iced tea", and various soft drinks, many of which had their origins in the South (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr Pepper).

Traditional African-American Southern food is often called "soul food"; in reality there is little difference in the traditional diet of Southerners. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialites.

Symbolism, Disagreements, and the Future of the South

Cultural Variations

• In many ways Texas has one foot in the South, and one in the Southwest. Its major cities have a very culturally diverse population, including Hispanic and Asian-Americans. Also, prior to its statehood in 1907, Oklahoma was "Indian Territory." The majority of the Native American tribes in Oklahoma sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Similar to Texas in that it has a Southwestern influence, Oklahoma holds strong ties to Southern culture, evidenced by dialect, religion, politics, cuisine, etc. It is geographically often grouped with the Midwest, but culturally is truly more Southern, especially in the eastern part of the state.

• Southern Louisiana, having been colonized by France and Spain rather than Great Britain, has different cultural traditions, especially within the Cajun, Creole, Latin American and Caribbean influenced culture of southern Louisiana. Importantly, the Gulf Coast regions of Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Florida also share a similar French/Spanish colonial history, but lack the heavy concentration of French influences present in Louisiana.

• Florida has had rapid population growth due to retirees from the North and immigrants from Latin America. Miami, Florida has become more a part of the culture of the Caribbean, with a large influx of immigrants from Cuba, and also Puerto Rico, Haiti and other parts of Latin America. Often, non-Hispanic whites and native-born African-Americans have migrated north to find higher wages, lower costs of living, and cultures where they feel more comfortable. While southern and central Florida are seen by many as not truly part of the South in terms of culture, the Florida Panhandle and northeastern areas of Florida remain culturally tied to the South. An unofficial "Southern line" can be drawn at or just south of Ocala, Florida; below this line, the culture of the areas can be described as much more "Northern."

• Portions of southern Ohio are advocated as "Southern", evidenced by the state's civil rights law that includes "persons of Appalachian ancestry" among the categories against which discrimination is prohibited. This group of Ohioans are generally concentrated in the southeastern part of the state, with "Appalachians" being viewed as separate from "Southerners" by many observers. Many Southerners do not recognize Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland as "Southern" due to their allegiance to the Union during the Civil War.

• The culture of Northern Kentucky is more Midwestern than Southern, as this region is culturally and economically attached to Cincinnati. It should also be noted that many in Kentucky (generally, those in western and northern areas) do not believe themselves to be Southerners, historically or culturally. Conversely, Southern Indiana is more Southern than it is Midwestern, as it is culturally and—particularly in southwestern Indiana—economically attached to Louisville, Kentucky.

• Similarly, Southern Illinois, notably (Little Egypt and Buda), is more Southern than it is Midwestern. It forms a coherent cultural region with the Missouri Bootheel, northeast Arkansas, Kentucky's Purchase, and West Tennessee.

• Many do not consider Maryland and Delaware to be culturally Southern states; their cultural designation is disputed due to their proximity to both North and South. Those who view them as Southern cite the fact that although neither state joined the Confederacy, slavery remained legal in them until ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and that the Mason-Dixon line, long considered to be the border between North and South, is in fact the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. Today, they are sometimes grouped with Southern states for corporate and governmental administrative regions. However, Baltimore, Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware lie along the Northeast Corridor, which further separates them from the South, and ties them to a culture that has little in common with Southern culture. In addition, they are much more liberal than any other region in the defined South, sharing political trends with the Northeastern states.

• Northern Virginia has been largely settled by Northerners attracted to job opportunities resulting from expansion of the federal government during and after World War II. Still more expansion resulted from the Internet boom around the turn of the 21st century. Economically linked to Washington, D.C, residents of the region tend to consider it part of the North, as do Southerners. However, it remains politically somewhat conservative, as opposed to Washington's suburbs across the Potomac River in Maryland, which are generally politically quite liberal.
  

  See also

• Deep South
• Border states

  References

• External links

• DocSouth: Documenting the American South - numerous online text, image, and audio collections.
• http://research.unc.edu/endeavors/spr97/south.html
• http://www.columbia.edu/~hah15/H_2004_Poetics.pdf