As someone that grew up in DC and MD, to this day, I'm convinced "Mid-Atlantic" was coined because nobody outside of this region could agree on which "side" we belonged to. I've heard New Yorkers refer to Maryland as "down south" and we already know what the deep south thinks of this region. There's no winning. We are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
@@dcseainVirginia is not mid Atlantic , it's the South. Growing up I never heard of anyone saying we were Mid Atlantic. Seems like a politically correct term or something.
I like a county-based view of the south. Southern Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma are far more 'Southern' than Western Maryland and Northern Kentucky, for example.
@@willsmith3787 it’s always been said that Saint Louis is the northernmost Southern city. I’d say if you’re south of STL and Indianapolis, you’re probably in the South.
As a Southerner myself, ain’t no way anybody calling Maryland or Delaware “Southern”. I’d personally include Virginia and WV, but that’s not universal. Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida are as Southern as you can get except Miami, that’s really just Cuba outside Cuba
Southern Illinois, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, the eastern shore area of Maryland are very southern areas in accents and culture. They’re are many different southern cultures Va, NC, Ga, eastern shore Md, SC and Fl have the Atlantic coast southern culture. Ga, NC, Va, Al, have the piedmont culture, La, Ms, Al, Fl, Tx have the Gulf coast culture, W. Va, KY, TN, Va, NC, Ga & Al have the Appalachian culture and Tx, Ark, Ok, Tn, Ms, Mo, Ky, La have that mid south culture. It depends on which part of the state. But mid south, Atlantic coast south, piedmont south, gulf coast south and Appalachia are the major areas in the south everything else seems to be a merger of those areas and the areas in those states not considered southern still are mixture of that and non southern influence. Also southern influence have been adopted by non southern people to the point where things that were considered southern before aren’t anymore because non southerners use them as well especially slang, speech patterns and even accents oddly enough
I'm from Tampa and moved out of state, went back to work in Orlando, and it was kind of weird how Southern and Evangelical it was, like more than the summer I lived in Pine Mountain, GA. Central Florida is kind of surreal, all the state is, but Orlando in the 90s a lot.
I agree!! But West Virginia, I can’t. I see West Virginia as the “heart of Appalachia”. The many times I been to West Virginia and I was honestly experiencing culture shock rather than cultural familiarity.
As a Mississippian who now lives in D.C., I was surprised to find just how Southern a city D.C. is. Is it the South, no, but there are definite strains of southern culture that exist here.
Yeah a lot of people in their 60s and older came from down south and started off their families in the DC area (and other major cities heavily populated with Black ppl). We're culturally not the south in DC, but we got heavy southern ties.
Bro even in suburban sf Bay Area I feel southern influence. Maybe cuz of the large number of blacks that came from that area in the earlier 20th century.
I had a sociology class in college with John Shelton Reed, a professor who specialized in "the South". Based on a lot of different factors, like the ones you discussed in this video, he drew a map of the South with gradients of shading. The Deep South all the way up to North Carolina was the most "southern". East Texas and northern Florida were still largely southern, but south Florida and west Texas were hardly southern at all.
Yeah in Texas it depends o who you are talking about. Black people would most certainly identify themselves with the South, while Mexican people would find much more in common with the more Mexican influenced Southwest. White people in east Texas would also consider themselves southern while one in west or central Texas might not.
West Texas still has a strong southern and Texas accent. Yeah they are most definitely the South. Politically and socially they are much more conservative than New Mexico.
As a native Floridian, I would agree that the further south you go in the state, the less southern in culture it gets. However, the interior portions of south Florida are more traditionally southern than the coastal areas. Good breakdown overall of the differences between N and S.
As a fellow Floridian I think outside of the Panhandle / Northern Florida our State has never been truly "Southern" in Culture. Our West coast is dominated by Midwesterners, East Coast by Yankees and Orlando is a mix of everything!
@@xoxxobob61He's right, though. Tampa and Orlando are not the interior he's talking about. He's talking about places like Myakka, Arcadia, Wauchula, Immokalee, and all the towns on the south side of the Okeechobee
@@xoxxobob61it depends on the west coast because I grew up in the central west coast of Florida and the counties there (Hernando, Citrus, and Pasco) would not get confused as being anything other then southern.
@@therambler3055 I agree. I think the natives(ie. And grew up in the “old Florida”) you can agree that any of areas you mentioned or areas outside the major cities are southern. I grew up in Polk county. We have a town in the county named after a politician of the confederacy.
@@xoxxobob61 Dare you to venture around Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades, northern Palm Beach county, Martin/St Lucie county, Brevard county, Lake county, Polk county, Marion county... all of these places you WILL find traditional southern culture. And no they are not in the panhandle. I tell people Florida is practically 6 states in one because it really is. There are 6 distinct regions of the state that culturally are completely different from one another. You have North Florida, NW Florida (panhandle), Central Florida, Southeast Florida, West/Southwest Florida and the Florida Keys.
I lived in Arkansas for 3 years (work) but grew up in NYC, one of the 15 Republicans from the city. Fort Smith Arkansas was the only DMV experience I didn't hate. I came in looking lost, right away a woman was like "Can I help you?" I said I needed Arkansas plates and I was like guided through the whole process. Didn't have one of the items I needed and they overlooked it (I assume because I was polite, asking people how their day is going gets you a long way sometimes) Was in and out in like 20 minutes.
I grew up in South Florida. I remember going up to Northern Florida with a friend and his family to go camping in some of the natural springs. We went to a big lake and were swimming with the locals. The local kids from there heard us talk and our accent and heard the word "dude" and immediately asked if we were from California. I was so confused lol. I didn't realize the cultural divide even within the same state. But yeah Northern/Southern Florida are completely different beasts.
very true. The bottom penninsula and pretty much greater miami region is not like the rest. It pretty much turns into Cuba and Bahamas. The more north you get it's pretty much Georgia
No disrespect but how old are you ? Cause if someone thought you were from California just from saying dude you sound like a baby boomer in age at least.
I absolutely agree with you that the south starts at Virginia and ends when you go into DC and Maryland. I was also born and raised in NC and yes, it is the south.
They are always questioning NC as the South (likely from a political standpoint because it used to be a Purple state) but bullshit. NC is the South. Outside of the big cities, ten miles out is as rural as it gets.
As someone who grew up and still live in the Florida Panhandle, I definitely agree the Panhandle and everything north of Gainesville is definitely the south. Once you pass Gainesville the culture, population and infrastructure seems more northern. Those of us who live in Panama City often say we live in Lower Alabama rather than Florida.
Not really, all of Polk county looks like Gainesville 😂, I’m from Florida too, Duval tho, all of Florida looks the same. I definitely get what you’re saying but aside from Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando… the other cities definitely give that “southern” feeling.
There's a Confederate memorial in Paducah, a city that was a major Union supply hub throughout the war. The Confederates raided the city a couple of times but never controlled it. I discovered something interesting when I was following the path of the Mason-Dixon line, it runs about 5 miles south of Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois.
Being from West Virginia is a little silly in terms of the north/south argument. WV split from VA over slavery so most people here really don't like using the term south, BUT most people will agree we're definitely not northern from a cultural standpoint. Many of the people I talk to around here just call it Appalachia, and we tend to see ourselves as weirdly disconnected from other surrounding states, as if we're this secret 3rd option.
I’m in Mercer County, West by God Virginia in the very southern portion of the state on the Virginia border. We are definitely Southern no doubt about it. Culturally, food, religion, it’s crazy humid, covered In Virginia creeper (vine that ate the south), and we have a biscuit and gravy drive thru food chain lol. We just didn’t agree with slavery.
I’m in Mercer County, West by God Virginia in the very southern portion of the state on the Virginia border. We are definitely Southern no doubt about it. Culturally, food, religion, it’s crazy humid, covered In Virginia creeper (vine that ate the south), and we have a biscuit and gravy drive thru food chain lol. We just didn’t agree with slavery.
If you base it on culture, which is really how I look at the South - then you can't exclusively use state boarders. I agree with you that Florida is a mix - transitioning somewhere around Ocala into something less Southern and into something unique. For Texas, it's really like 3-4 regions (big state) - Great Plains, West Texas, Rio Grande and East Texas (south).
@leechjim8023 Culturally, I'd say West and South Texas are Southwestern, Plains and Hill Country are more Western, and East Texas including most of the Gulf Coast Plains are South.
@@wordforger agree with most of your comment, except for the Gulf Coast Plains, they are definitely not southern. Brownsville up to Houston has its own culture. Lots of ranching and hispanic culture there.
American alligators are found in the southeast United States: all of Florida and Louisiana; the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi; coastal South and North Carolina; East Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma, and the southern tip of Arkansas. Alligators have also been found in New Mexico, but it is rare.
@@angelacooper8973 I lived in Maryland for a year and east Maryland is mid Atlantic for sure. However western Maryland feels pretty southern, I’m speaking culturally of course
I grew up and still live on the Delmarva/Eastern Shore and Delaware south of New Castle county is very much still Southern in culture. You can easily find Confederate Flag’s in Sussex county still. There’s still hints of the NorthEast but Delmarva is very much dominated by Southern culture. New Castle County in Delaware (it’s most northern county), is the only part of Delaware besides the shore that feels Northern. Even Middletown still feels like the South despite the boom.
From MD but have lived in the north and south. MD has very little in common south and I believe traditional southern culture really starts in Richmond now. Northern VA has lost it's southern culture..
*in common with the south *its (possessive pronoun) it's = contraction of "it is" or "it has" All contractions have apostrophes. Possessive pronouns never do.
I live in both Culpeper and Charlottesville, and the southern characteristics are leaning much more towards NoVA these days. Even FXG is becoming more "northern". I blame I95 in the case of the latter.@@MeadeFatLoss
@@WhoBeSilly Imo the real/ Virginia starts at Fredericksburg, even with the DC spill over, but it's not cut and dry. Winchester area feels Southern , and I was recently in Luray and the Southern accents were thick , even for me . So nova is really a mixed bag with pockets of Virginia left in the middle.
In my experience, the "southern culture" feels start past Chester. Like, Richmond has a lot of historical sites, but culturally feels more like nova's slightly chattier cousin than anything. Remove the historical elements and Richmond and above lack any sort of southern "charm"
The South: - Alabama - Mississippi - Georgia - Tennessee - Virginia - Kentucky - South Carolina - North Carolina - Louisiana - West Virginia - Florida (especially the north) The DEEP South - Alabama - Mississippi - Georgia - Louisiana - South Carolina The Appalachian South - West Virginia - Virginia - Tennessee - Kentucky - North Carolina South/Midwest hybrid - Missouri - Arkansas - Oklahoma South/South West hybrid - Texas South/Latin America hybrid - Florida (Cuba, PR) - Texas (Mexico) Definitely not the south - Maryland - Delaware - Washington DC
As a Kentucky native Im glad that you agree with me that Kentucky is southern. If Missouri is the "Gateway to the West", then Kentucky in my eyes is the "Gateway to the South".
@@baritone_vocalist absolutely! The only parts of Ky that seem midwestern are the greater Cincinnati area and maybe parts of Louisville. The rest is as Southern as Tennessee
@@mikeytaylorjrIt's not just the southern part of the state. The rural counties along the northern part of the PA border are also very redneck (I live in one of them). But yes, geography does suggest that NJ is further south than people think. The entire state is located south of the southernmost point in Canada, which doesn't sound like a big deal but you'd be surprised by how many states aren't--for example, California/Nevada/Utah aren't. Did you know that the latitude line that forms those states' northern border is the same one that forms the long straight part of the NY/PA border? And, yes, Cape May is just barely north of DC.
I've always considered Texas as doing it's own thing, maybe with Oklahoma attached. Texas has it's own unique state pride and culture that feels very different from the more traditional south. Maryland, DC, and definitely Delaware are not really southern in any way anymore. West Virginia and Kentucky are probably the trickiest for me. West Virginia has more in common with Appalachian PA and Eastern Tennessee than the south or mid atlantic and KY is a mix of midwest, southern, and Appalachian culture. Florida is probably southern on average.
Florida and Texas are in league of their own. The upper south is more or less in the political and cultural sphere of north east, and the rest is the south.
East texas and Houston are “southern” though. Well Houston not as much today as when I grew up but we do consider ourselves to be southern grown. The rest of Texas I wouldn’t call Southern at all.
People not from the South tend to think negatively about the South in general. So when they relocate to a place in the South, they justify it by claiming it is not actually the South. Mental gymnastics basically. Personally, I go with the Census definition; the South is not a monolith, its many things.
@@AuburnFanSince2010I remember being in Charlotte one time and being absolutely shocked at how the city just completely shut down at 6 pm. That skyline sure fools ya.
@@dirtycommie2877Wyoming and California both are the west (nobody would argue differently)but they’re completing different. But Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia being different from the slower states like Alabama and Mississippi all of sudden it’s a discussion whether or not these states are southern.
A few years ago, some researchers found the new Mason Dixon line by finding the McDonalds that did not serve sweet tea. That line goes right through the middle of VA, just north of Richmond.
Sometimes TX and OK are considered part of the Southwest. I think you could split it culturally down the middle, the east being more wooded and similar to AR, the west half being more semi arid rolling prairies. It could also be considered being in the southern plains.
I agree with this! With that said, it’s hit or miss in the Dallas area. Parts of the city feels like the traditional south while other parts feel a bit different m. Not quite SW, but a mixture of the two. I’m originally from NC. It’s just different out here overall even though both are in the south.
as an Oklahoman i dont consider myself a southerner and i get offended when people associate my with southerners. I'm not from Confederate heritage. I'm from outlaws, sharecroppers and Natives. The people from our state went west to California in the dustbowl and in hard times. Not east and into the south.
@@VolkXue As someone from Oklahoma I consider myself an Okie, but also a southerner. I'm also Native and a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation. If you get offended when someone associates you with southerners it's because of your own personal biases and negative connotations with "The South". There is more to being southern than the Civil War or the Confederacy. And as much as it might pain you to hear, Oklahoma is culturally southern. The official "Oklahoma state meal" is made up of southern foods such as chicken fried steak, barbecue pork, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, grits, pecan pie, etc. Likewise, linguists classify the Okie accent as Southern American English, though we have a South Midlands accent that is closer to a Texas accent than an accent from one of the southeastern states. Additionally, Oklahoma is in the Bible Belt, and religion is huge here just as it is everywhere else in the south. As for what you said about the dustbowl, Oklahoma culture came well before the 1930s, so Okies leaving for California had little effect on Oklahoma culture, other than spreading the culture west to California. There are still people that consider themselves "Okies" in California today. What made Oklahoma's culture "Southern" is that a many of the settlers that came here in the late 1800s came here from the southern states. Additionally, every one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" that came here in the 1830s, when Oklahoma was "Indian Territory" all came from the Southeast.
@@JayEvans1911A1 you literally dont live in the south, buddy Most Oklahomans accents are midwestern (aka no real accent) and the Native community has its own accents. They dont speak like southerners. Kinda like the Native community has its own regional foods that you didnt mention lol We had just as many settlers that were immigrants and from the east if not more. EW Marland, giant oil guy? Pennsylvania. We did have runaway slaves and outlaws. Oklahoma wasn't exactly a place a ton of people wanted to live by choice. The Choctaws and Chickasaws had cotton slaves down there in the far south of Oklahoma though and we still have a lot of racists and southern throwbacks down there. Like that racist sherif with the leaked audio or whatever. He thought he lived in the south and that didnt work out for him
@@VolkXue It must bother you that the US government has placed us in the South and not the Midwest, despite your opinions. I'm pretty sure that decision was based on a number of factors, not just geographic location. If I had to take a guess, I suspect that you're from the city, and probably from Tulsa. That's probably why you think most Oklahomans have midwestern accents. Or you're from extreme northwestern Oklahoma near the pan handle. If you ever ventured outside of city limits, and still made the claims that most Okies sound midwestern you're either not paying attention, or you're being disingenuous because of your personal biases. I'm native, and know just as many natives with Okie accents, as natives with a "rez accent". I also didn't mention native foods because I didn't think that I needed to. But since you mention it, grits which many people consider southern (and also a part of the official "Oklahoma state meal") is called Sofkee and was eaten by natives long before it was eaten by white southerners. Additionally, beans and corn bread is originally a native dish. Southern foods have been influenced by native foods. The "Five Civilized Tribes" that are now in Oklahoma were all originally in the southeast, and had lived near and had interacted with white southerners for years before removal to "Indian Territory" in the 1830s. The cultures influenced one another. Yes, some people immigrated here from regions other than the south and continue to do so. The big oil guy that you mentioned, no doubt moved here during the oil boom in the early 1900s because he wanted to make money. The big cities, OKC and Tulsa especially have a large number of transplants, though the state overall has not changed culturally. You equate the south with racism, the Civil War, and the confederacy. There's a lot more to southern culture than that, but you're so blinded by your own personal biases and prejudices that you'll dismiss any evidence that is contrary to your own opinion. That being said, I think that this conversation has probably ran it's course.
Grew up in Maryland. Yes its below the Mason-Dixon line, but very few Marylanders would consider themselves Southern. You hit a lot on the Civil War aspect but remember that Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy though they were slave states. I don't know enough about Kentucky to say if its Southern or Mid-Western, but Maryland, DC, & Delaware are much more Mid-Atlantic with PA/NJ than Southern. Once you get out of the DC Metro heading south, that's the South. I knew tons of Virginian's with Southern Accents. Not so in Maryland. Also Maryland has a weird culture all its own.Thanks for the video!
I've been to Kentucky enough to say that at least parts of it are southern. Western Kentucky definitely has a strong southern accent and culture, although I've heard some people say that northern Kentucky lacks a southern culture. I think that in most of the border states, there will be a mix of southern and not southern culture However, Maryland has a distinct lack of this in my view. The rural parts of Maryland don't feel southern to me, they just feel rural.
Kentucky only has a lack of of southern culture in the 3 counties near the top of the ohio river. And in Louisville. So 4 counties out 120.@@alexray230
@@alexray230Kentucky is by far the most southern of the four “border states” in my opinion, it’s not even really close, although there is some midwestern influence the closer you get to the Ohio River. I’ve always said Louisville is the northernmost Southern city and Cincinnati is the southernmost Northern one
My parents were from Eastern and Central Oklahoma. They had Southern type drawl, although not as thick as some in the Deep South. Mom was a Southern cook (my California friends growing up loved to come to our house for dinner!). Religion was Southern Baptist. Mom told me as a little girl she remembered seeing "white" and "colored" drinking fountains and restrooms in Oklahoma City. Most of the state is to this day culturally Southern in many ways.
Driving across Oklahoma, I could see it being southern for most of the state but switching to Western or Plains around Oklahoma City westward. The funny thing is that culture really doesn't adhere to state lines very well - just like "pop" vs "soda" vs "coke".
Thanks for not bashing us southerners for all the things that make us a little different than other Americans. Keep up the good work. Oh and I live in Appalachia TN. The historical architecture, mountain views and kind people make it a safe and lovely place to live.
Hey, goofy southern guy, why would he bash the south when he's from the south and is just doing a video on which states are in the south complete with verified data? Do you southerners have to always be extra with everything?
@@error3821 - Dude, stop commenting to me. You're about as dumb as a bag of flour. If you can't follow simple dialogue, I'm not the one to be commenting to.
Thank you so much for this video bro! I'm born Brazilian, living in Brooklyn and with so many unanswered questions in my mind... well, not anymore haha I liked how simple, sincere and straightforward this video was about so much stuff. Definitely one of the most helpful videos I've seen in life. thks buddy!
Thanks, now subscribed. This is among the clearest and most-well articulated videos and explanations of which areas are southern. You're correct about politics not being a useful barometer, with it changing so easily. I would add cultures, mannerisms, accents, and of course climates and vegetation offer good clues.
I think it's difficult to necessarily mark any region of the US as distinct anymore. Because migration is such a common practice today, peoples customs become more dispersed and accepted within different regions. I do think that very rural parts of the US, where people tend to stay longer in the area they were born, can still retain many of those traits that define a region. This is why many poor rural areas of the midwest, have much stronger southern identities than most southern cities, even though they have no traditional southern ties at all.
I think this is only true if you think rural life and only it’s worst stereotypes are inherently “southern”. If rural poverty is the only commonality required then a large part of the entire world is culturally “southern”.
Boundary of The South: VA South of the DC Metro, Southern half of WV, kentucky south of louisville metro, southern MO, western edges of AR and LA, FL Panhandle + Jacksonville.
you scared me so bad to see a satellite shot of my town looking down at my house suddenly show up on screen when discussing northern suburbs! haha great video, love the insight. i always found it odd as a pennamite that maryland was ever considered southern. spent a lot of time in baltimore and could honestly be convinced i was still in my home state. the coastal culture reminds me a ton of jersey's, and i always saw the state as very northern. delaware is without a doubt an extension of NJ and PA culturally to me, although i will say i've met people from delaware who have thick southern accents and swear they're southern. so i guess in the same way that virginia has very northern aspects in its urban centers and sort of gradually transitions throughout the state, there's areas in maryland and delaware that still feel very southern in their culture.
Lol, so you met a couple of people in Delaware with southern accents that meant something? My man, Delaware, especially the Wilmington, Newark, Christiana, New Castle area is little Philly. Same exact accents and tons of crossover with Philadelphians moving there for the lower cost of living. I lived in Baltimore, and I live in South Jersey now, and I don't see many similarities. The food is way different and of course the accents are drastically different. South Jersey is also little Philly. All of our media is based out of Philly. And of course North Jersey is based on the culture of New York.
@@TopBillinSports bro you have 28 antagonistic comments and replies on here calling people all sorts of things from “goofy” to “weirdos” to “ stupid southerners” you’re like those weird people who hang out at the subway and make it your goal to creep as many people out as possible. You realize anyone can click your profile and read everything you’ve ever written right? You and the original commenter really need to learn how to use the internet. That or your parents need to take your phone away. Clearly my point is that you people have no idea what proper internet etiquette is. Your digital footprint is very real and in your case it’s tied to your actual face and the inside of your home that you post here. You are a UA-cam channel and the first thing anyone sees on your channel is your weird angry replies to everyone. Do better bro.
Excellent job, Mike. You refreshed and sharpened my understanding with your historical references. I am not as well-traveled in the US as you are, but as a 60-year-old native Central Floridian, your commentary and opinions parallel mine without any disagreement.
The south begins on the east coast once you’re south of the DC suburbs as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t feel like the south socially and culturally until you reach that point. There’s no way that Maryland is in the south. Maryland has more in common with Delaware and Pennsylvania than it does with Georgia or Tennessee.
I grew up in OK and western AR and I can say that my culture there was definitely southern. Ended up moving to Central Florida and stayed there for nearly 30 years. The panhandle and upper third or so is southern. Even Central Florida is peppered with southerners enough that you can get a feel for it especially in the more rural areas. But there are enough "snow birds" and "transplants" in Orlando and the coastal areas to divorce them from their southern title. Miami has such a large Hispanic population that it's culturally its own unique entity. Next I lived in southern CA (LA) for about 5 years. Now I'm in rural NC. My time in Cali taught me that you can take the girl out of the south but you can't take the south out of the girl. As for TX, I'd say it is also culturally diverse and would have to be broken up into regions. But just generally speaking, yeah, southern. Definitely not Maryland.
I agree. I've been to the DMV numerous times and Northern VA feels like an extension of the Mid-Atlantic region because it's heavily influenced by DC since it makes up part of the metro area. Now the rest of Virginia is southern and isn't like the Mid-Atlantic region, culturally, linguistically, or politically. The Mid-Atlantic region today would be New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Once you get past Northern Virginia, you're officially entering the south, and Richmond is the first city in the south.
I live in Hampton the Roads, VA area. Strangely most people who moved from Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida o Virginia don't claim us as the South. 😂They group us with Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. I believe it because in Hampton Roads aka (Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton and Suffolk) many ex military settle here. We also have many people who moved from New York, Maryland and New Jersey. I'll just say this area is unique because we have Air Force base in Newport News, Navy and Coast Gaurd Base in Portsmouth, Navy Base in Norfolk, Fort Eustis Army Base and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and Navy Oceana Navy Air Base in Virginia Beach. People from all over the U.S.A settle here. This is what makes my area culturally unique. Hampton Roads Virginia is the true MID ATLANTIC STATE.
When I visited Louisville a few years ago, some locals I was talking to at a bar described their city as the Portland of the midwest and the city certainly feels more midwest than the south. But it is on the northern border so of course there's going to be some overlap.
Louisville is a river town like Cincy. It's both. Get north of Cincy and it gets midwestern fast. Same for get south or east of Louisville and it gets southern quick.
I drove from my very Midwestern city in Michigan to Louisville in 2016 and had the pleasure of witnessing 2 shirtless white guys with long-ish mullet-like hair arguing outside of a gas station. There was a small crowd forming but it never came to blows. That is what Louisville is to me.
In my opinion, I like interstate 64 as the north-south divide. That said the north-south divide seems to continue pushing south especially by DC. It seems surprisingly accurate to what I wanted looking for some existing line. West Virginia is in my opinion, aligned with southern values but Appalachian as is western Maryland western Virginia and other areas
Fun fact... look at all the major interstates of the US... going from west to east, all the interstates running north/south end in a "5"... i-5, i-15, i-25, i-35... starting in the south and moving north, all interstates running east/west end in a "0"... i-10, i-20, i-30, i-40...
@TheJuanqui1 I'm from indianapolis and drive a truck for work southern indiana and illinois definitely feel southern when I first started I was surprised to hear a southern accent in the south part of indiana
I was born and raised in Central Florida so I do feel like the southerness is still around in this area, at least outside of the major cities. You know the ones. Granted my mom and dad are from the Midwest and New England respectively so that is an issue, but there's alot of fast food chicken restaurants, sweet tea, churches, grits, and cajun food so that probably helps. Not to mention, I've definitely heard people speak a more traditional southern accent of some kind, though it is still kinda rare even in the more rural areas. That and a Tennessee girl moved down to my school for awhile with a thick Tennessee accent, wait actually that last part doesn't matter much. Also Outlaws, a southern rock band, is from Tampa, as well as Christian metal band Underoath. And Christian rock band Anberlin is from my home town of Winter Haven
I lived in Orlando for about 12 years (15 total in Florida). Gainesville is southern but Orlando is not. Tampa and most of SW FL is not but north of Tampa - yes. Daytona Beach northward is southern but Cape Canaveral south is not. Jax is home of Lynard Skynard - so very southern (basically GA annex). Basically, if you can unquestionable find sweet tea in every food establishment - you're in the south. It is hit-or-miss, it is a transition zone.
Southerners aren’t confused about the boundaries of the Deep South and the south. It’s only cultural outsiders that I find to be confused. A coworker of mine from CA said that CA was southern 😂
Personally, in my opinion, I think every state (except for Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C.) that the US Census Bureau defines as “southern” are a part of the south. I know states like Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and even Missouri at times are debated as being southern or not. However, the way I look at it is Virginia is very much a southern state outside of NOVA and the DC area. West Virginia and Kentucky are more Appalachian in culture, but they are still southern in a lot of ways. Texas and Oklahoma are a weird mix of southern, midwestern, and western, but most people I have met from those states identify as southerners. Florida is very much a southern state until you hit southern Florida (like Miami area). I think Missouri is not a southern state. Culturally, it is similar to the south, but it still has that Midwest vibe and feel to it as well as when you look at its location on the map of the USA. The other states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas) are undeniably southern.
Lol why do you people think Kentucky is appalchian? 1/4th of the state is mountains. If you think applachia is a region then you agree that Western MA has things in common with Nothern Georgia. It's flat and they grow cotton in the western half. South-Central Kentucky is all tobacco farms with rolling hills. Central Kentucky is where the bluegrass slave planters lived. Northern Kentucky and Louisivlle are a mix-mash of northern and southern culture.
Kentucky is most definitely the south. Horses. KFC. Corvettes. Louisville slugger. Rum, Bourbon, and Whiskey. Moonshiners. Hatfield - McCoy feuds. Colonial style houses. Bluegrass music origins. Coal mining culture. And tobacco farms. Oh. And the president of the confederacy was from Louisville and 90% of Kentucky soldiers fought for the south. … But we aren’t “southern”, right? We created a big part of this culture.
Kentucky is part of the East South Central States (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi). Only about 1/4th of the state is Appalachian and only about 3 counties in Northern KY have a Midwestern feel. The vast majority of places in Kentucky are undeniably Southern. In fact, a larger percentage of Kentuckians identify as Southerners than North Carolinians, South Carolinians, Virginians, West Virginians, Floridians, Texans and Okies that do.
There was a great essay by John Shelton Reed /decades/ ago about this, and while his answer involved looking in phone books, he suggest a good enough answer that’s very easy to apply: Does kudzu grow there? And when you look at a map showing that line, it’s pretty accurate.
I grew up in Oklahoma. I moved to Tampa right out of high school. I was told that I spoke with a western twang.Ironically, after being in florida for 10 months I had to go back for my grandmother's funeral. I was shocked. I could hear the difference myself. I DID NOT like what I was hearing. I don't think of Okahoma as the south. It's more southWESTERN to me.
The Indian Territory region of Eastern Oklahoma is coined Little Dixie because of the federal government moving the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee, Cherokee, and Seminole nations. Indian Territory was also a CSA strong hold due to the reparations and the ability to move back to the homelands if they CSA actually gained independence from the US. Fort Towson, for example, was the main CSA fort in what is now known (since 1917) Oklahoma.
Thing is some parts of Florida have just as much of a twang, just a different flavor. In my high school there would be kids from the same town some who spoke with the standardized east coast white accent and then guys who had full blown southern redneck accents.
I did not vote in your polls, but I agree with the results. There are a lot of transplants here in South Florida, mostly NY and PA, but that seems to be a growing problem in all of the South now.
If gentrification never happened in nyc most New Yorkers I believe would have stood home. But we are loosing lots of our Puerto Ricans Italians blacks and Jews to Florida. Now Russians Ukrainians Uzbek’s Dominicans & Mexican immigrants are dominating nyc also we have a high number of hipsters from the Midwest and Pacific Northwest that are dominating nyc as well.
NYC NJ Long Island are very high Taxes and Housing costs for Retired People. It's that simple. And many people want a warmer climate. Not me, I Love NYNJ Great area to Retire if you can afford it
0:01 Q: What Is “The South?” 0:13 Where are “The South’s Boundaries?” *The South* 0:52 The Federal Government’s Definition of “The South” of America 🇺🇸 *The South and The Civil War* 1:49 The Historical South, The Confederacy. “Dixie” 2:42 Slave States 3:03 Missouri is a Midwestern State more than a South State 3:12 Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida can be included in definition of “The South” *Southern Culture* 3:38 Southern Culture 3:49 Food of The South - Higher obesity rates 4:24 Less Socially Progressive than other American Regions 🇺🇸 4:36 Black Americans live in The South 🤵🏿♂️ 5:05 Black Cities 🏙️ *Appalachia* ⛰️ 5:14 Appalachian Culture ⛰️ *Churches* ⛪️ ✝️ 5:41 High Church Attendance in The South 5:57 The South coincides with “The Bible Belt.” ✝️📖 *South States and Cities that aren’t exactly Culturally Southern* 6:05 Maryland and Washington D.C. are less Southern culturally since becoming more Metropolitan. 6:52 🌊🔥🇨🇺Miami Florida is more Latino South American Culture. Rather than Southern Culture
I remember the early '80s book "The Nine Nations of North America", by Joel Garreau, which subdivided the continent into distinct cultural/geographic areas that didn't necessarily conform to political boundaries. In that book, he put heavily Spanish-speaking Miami in "The Islands" (the Caribbean) while the rest of Florida went to "Dixie". Texas was split into three areas, Dixie (East), "The Breadbasket" (North and Central), and "Mexamerica" (South/border areas). Subsequent books about regional geography tend to adjust Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia into what Garreau would call "The Foundry" (the industrialized East Coast/Midwest), and restrict the Florida part of Dixie to the Panhandle and Jacksonville. What they would put Central Florida in, I can't really figure out. Texas likely has that same three-way split, with different borders depending on external and internal migration. BTW, the only region Garreau kept the same as its political border was Quebec.
I'd split Oklahoma as well, from say highway 75 east is part of the south, west of that it's kinda Midwest, and far western Oklahoma is desert Southwest.
Loved that book. From Arkansas, lived in Wisconsin for 4 years. Found the divisions matched my experiences. Look at also, The Day America Told The Truth. Their divisions were close, and based on survey answers. They stayed in the US, and ended up splitting the South and the Mid-Atlantic.
I’m familiar with that map, I call bullshit. The “breadbasket” is an agricultural region, not a cultural region. Dakotans and West Texans are not part of the same cultural group.
I live in the northern panhandle of WV (the northernmost part of your "south" map). I am surprised you didn't mention WV. It's a bit of a toss up because it separated itself from VA in the Civil War due to conflicting views on slavery. Culturally WV south of Clarksburg, WV is the south in my mind.
Follansbee girl here....this is spot on. I just said to my husband that Clarksburg is the spot where things start to change. Graduated from Fairmont State, so I have the same feel for this as you.
Eastern NC is lowland south so I wouldn't call us upper south. The coastal plains region is more deep south culturally than anything. We pride ourselves on being southern though regardless.
As Oklahoman with Georgia, Alabama, and Florida roots your assessment is spot on. I lived in all of these places along with the Midwest ( KS, Missouri, and Ohio) you did a great job
The South is: All of: Mississippi Alabama Louisiana S. Carolina N. Carolina Georgia Arkansas Tennessee Most of (90%+): Kentucky West Virginia Virginia Eastern half of: Oklahoma Eastern third of: Texas Southern third of: Missouri Northern third/half of: Florida Very tip of (10-15%): Illinois Panhandle of: Maryland
A lot of the confusion comes from the fact the government doesn't have an official stance on regions. Yes, each department within the government has it's own official definitions but there is no umbrella definition, each department uses regions that logistically makes sense for it's purpose. FWIW I say from DC/Maryland north is the Northeast with Virginia south the Southeast.
Delaware is not the south. Even though it was a border state like Maryland, it was still considered to be one of the original middle colonies or mid atlantic states, along with New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Maryland was a border southern state that had a lot in common with Virginia, culturally, but it relied on the north and the south, economically. Today, Maryland can best be classified as a mid atlantic state with southern roots.
Maryland isn't the south anymore. Sure there's some southern culture at the border of VA, but it has the same grit and grind as NYC, NJ, Philly, Deleware, etc.
I was raised in PG county Maryland and would occasionally see family in southern VA. It's a complete culture shock from what I was accustomed to. Even going from DC to Bmore is drastically different.
Baltimore and D.C. are similar if you've hung out in both. New Balance, similar slang etc. D.C. is just more upkept and gentrified, but the factors most of you are typing don't define North or South especially in a modern world where robots and A.I. are becoming the now internationally.
Being born & raised in Kentucky, I've encountered several individuals, all of whom are from your home state of NC, who say Kentucky IS NOT a southern state. I had to point out that this state is the home of bluegrass, KFC, it was a slave state & the University of Kentucky is a part of the South Eastern Conference. Don't get me wrong, I kinda see what they may mean because the closer you get to Ohio, via Cincinnati, you see a shift in culture. That being said, I know folk both black & white that will throw hands if you say Kentucky isn't apart of the south.
As a Kentucky native, I would have told them to STFU because Kentucky is where the South begins and the people there are just as warm and welcoming as any other southern state. Not to mention Kentucky has a very southern culture and lifestyle.
I’m from the Carolinas and a lot of us where I’m from definitely consider Kentucky southern. At least myself and people I’ve spoken to. Were those who said that real Carolinians? (Born and raised) Next time tell them kiss your secret recipe cuz you’re southern!! 🤠 Kentucky is favorite southern state to visit btw ❤
Excellent video Mike, and well-thought out! Probably the single most southern staple I can think of is the food, although my state of TX has its own staple foods somewhat dissociated from the rest of the South -- the BBQ it has in common though chicken-fried steak and Tex-Mex are also essentials for Texas. I enjoy a combination of all of them though, that is when I'm not eating fish... lol. I've just as often heard Texas referred to as part of the Southwest as I have the South though I can certainly understand the case for both. Once I heard Fort Worth described as the place where the West begins (referring to both the US as a whole and the state of Texas). I've also heard the case made that certain parts of west Texas (i.e. the Panhandle) as well as the neighboring state of Oklahoma actually fit more into the Plains and/or Midwest.
Texas though tends to have what I would call its own culture. It takes alot of aspects from the south the west and tmmexico to create what I consider a different culture
I disagree with what you said about Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma is similar to Texas in that we are our own thing, but Oklahoma is culturally very southern. The official "Oklahoma state meal" is made up of southern foods such as chicken fried steak, barbecue pork, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, grits, pecan pie, etc. Linguists consider the Okie accent as Southern American English, though we have a South Midlands accent that is closer to a Texan accent than an accent from one of the southeastern states. Oklahoma is also in the bible belt and religion is huge here, just as it is everywhere else in the south. Okies have a lot more in common with Texans and Arkansans, than with Kansans and other Midwesterners in my opinion.
Great video, with just one thing to point out: Texas is not Hispanic mainly because of immigration, but due to its origins as a Mexican state. As our cousins say up there: We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us. 🤣
Misinformation. Mexico struggled to have their people settle Texas so the overwhelming majority of Hispanics are there due to immigration. Although I agree with that sentiment in California
That ones kinda meh. Yea It was part of Mexico for 15 years after getting grandfathered from Spain. But there was only few thousand Mexicans living up there. Which they got quickly outnumbered as soon as they allowed gringos to come in. I get what you saying but it wasn't like some vastly populated region with a lot of historical significance in pre Spanish Mexican history. Most of the Mexican population there today is due to immigration.
@@MissCleo24 yes many Mexican and Spanish settlers were afraid to settle in what was then Texas (i know that's not what you meant but it also applies) because they were vastly outnumbered by the Comanches/wichitas and other northern native American nations. Old historical Mexico never and i mean never had control or vast settlements in Texas or even most areas north of the Rio Grande. This image you're trying to portray of the fact that some Mexicans and natives share same similar skin tones and genetics does not mean they liked One another. Read up on the legendary Apache leader Geronimo. He literally hated Mexicans more than anything. Apache and Mexicans went to war like crazy and hated each others guts. Mexico had 100 peso bounties for Apache scalps. They even caught them and used them as slaves. In 1821 once Mexico got independence and inherited Texas only around 3500 Mexican settlers lived in the whole of Tejas, concentrated mostly in San Antonio and La Bahia. As soon as Mexico opened up immigration for Anglos, they were quickly outnumbered and Anglo Americans within 16 years declared Texan independence. Why because Mexico never really had a large foothold in the northern edges of what even today's modern Mexican border is. My argument isn't a anti Mexico, Pro US one. It's more the native nations around the southwest historically did not mix much with the heart of pre Spanish Mexico people's. Mexican empires of the past and Mexico's historic heartland was further south in central Mexico, not up north. The north didn't get settled until the Spanish came forced/encouraged settlement further north. Majority of the Mexican population into the southwest US occurred after US took over and they came for work and settled. Mexicans before or after the Spanish very sparsely ever ventured far north of modern borders.
I grew up in southern Virginia and I moved to NYC. When I drive 100 miles south of NYC in rural Pennsylvania, the culture is basically the same of that of southern Virginia. Ironically rural Pennsylvania is way more “southern” and similar to the south culturally, socially and even politically than its northeastern counterparts, even though it is considered to be northeast and much closer to the northeastern metropolises.
I’m from PA and that’s the exact reason I say MD and VA aren’t southern. There’s almost no cultural difference between us and besides the weather it barely feels like I changed states when I go down there
I grew up in rural Southwestern PA, about 40 minutes from both the MD and WV state lines, only about 90 minutes from VA state line. I agree with you. You make some great points, and your analysis has been echoed by many others.
I live in Central PA, but I also lived in Charleston SC for a year. The Pennsyltucky behavior that you're talking about is in my view very distinctly different from the behavior of people in the actual South. I think it's a third thing. Fake south. Poser south.
Virginia is traditionally is southern state. It was the capital of the confederacy. It was as southern S Mississippi. I use to live in Va as a child and I can tell you it was very much southern in the 70s and before. But as time went on it has changed a lot. The demographic of Va has changed and you have a lot of Northerners who have moved there. It’s not the same as when I grew up. They even vote differently now. Accents have changed a lot. The culture has changed a lot. I’m speaking mostly of Northern Va.
I think what makes defining what the South is as a region is so difficult because many people, mainly Southerners, focus way too much on state lines, politics, urbanization, and slight cultural differences between Southern states. Many Southerners often view the South as too much of a monolith. For example, just because Texas has more Southwestern and Hispanic influence than other places in the south doesn’t make it not Southern. The state historically has been settled by Southerners, seceded from the Union, and has always aligned itself with the South politically and socially. Everything east of San Antonio I would say is still comfortably southern, mainly because the culture of East Texas/the Texas Triangle is still influenced heavily by traditional Southern culture, despite Texas having a strong subculture of its own. Central Texas and West Texas along with the panhandle and the Rio Grande Valley are definitely not Southern, although they do have Southern influences. You can’t really define a region entirely based on state lines, and regional lines are often much blurrier than we think. I also think a lot of people confuse the Deep South with the rest of the South. The Deep South (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) is a subregion WITHIN the broader Southern US. It’s not the South itself
Thank you!!!!! I been telling people that Maryland, Delaware, Florida and Texas are part of the south. Maryland and Delaware folks got country accents like my aunt who’s from Delaware.
being from Virginia specifically southwest Virginia, people think of Virginia and automatically think of Northern Virginia or NOVA, not even a thought about Richmond or Norfolk/Newport News areas which are very much southern, its very crazy to me. Also seeing West Virginia even considered southern is very interesting, but made more sense while you explained the criteria's.
@@thedirtybubble9613 nah, Maryland is in the south…I’m from the 7-5 and my people been in MD for centuries. Rest y’all bammas come from Carolina somewhere trynna act like it’s “up north” smh
@@757CitiesReppa because you are up north. MD has more in common with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware than it does with the rest of the South. That's not a bad thing either. MD has a good education system and a good healthcare system.
@@thedirtybubble9613 i am not up north …what are you talking about? South Jersey yeah, maybe…the parts Maryland border Pennsylvania aren’t influential to Maryland. Like I said my family been in Maryland for centuries. Maryland is in the Mid Atlantic and belongs and IS in the same space as Virginia…didn’t say “the rest of the south”…because “the south” isn’t even similar to itself…and never has been.
In my opinion, US Route 60 as the north-south divide. That said the north-south divide seems to continue pushing south especially by DC. It seems surprisingly accurate to what I wanted looking for some existing line. West Virginia is in my opinion, aligned with southern values but Appalachian as is western Maryland western Virginia and other areas.
Fun fact... look at all the major interstates of the US... going from west to east, all the interstates running north/south end in a "5"... i-5, i-15, i-25, i-35... starting in the south and moving north, all interstates running east/west end in a "0"... i-10, i-20, i-30, i-40...
The confusion is because people have a stereotype about the South and want it all to fit in their little perceived notion of what the South is supposed to be. In reality, the South is a diverse region of varying cultures, geography, politics and demographics. The most populated region in the country. For example…Texas, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas…all somewhat different, all in the South.
All hunt. All are mostly red territories. All, outside of Atlanta and Memphis, are white majority in the major cities. You find a lot more minority majority in the big Northern cities, man.
It’s the only region where it’s expected to be one way culturally. Other regions can have multiple cultures and no one bats an eye. No one accuses Maine of not being the north east coast just because it’s not exactly like NY, NJ, and PA or no one says New Mexico isn’t the west just because it isn’t exactly like California, Oregon, and Washington but when it comes to the south, all of a sudden if the place isn’t full fledged ‘Howdy y’all’ culture, then all of a sudden “It’s not the south.” A gang of folks who aren’t from the south love giving their erroneous breakdowns about what constitutes the south. Even folks who haven’t stepped one foot in the south will often want to give their 2 cents about what they consider the south. Worse is when southerners want to go along with those absurd narratives.
As far as Texas goes, I believe that San Antonio is the last large city you hit going west before it's no longer the South. After that, you're in a part of the state that's uniquely Texan, then after that, you hit the Southwest.
This sounds like a solid thought, but being in the DFW I can tell you that Fort Worth should be the beginning of "The West". It's continued connection to the "Wild West", cattle, ranchers, and obviously the Stockyards, is where "The South" ends and "The West" begins. So maybe in connection with your thought, as well as several other comments here, Texas being so unique with State pride is the hub for the change between South, West, and Southwest. Loved this conversation.
@@j.campbell8491 It has been awhile since I have been in the southern cities of Texas, but this past summer I drove across the plains of Texas. That is the West that I was talking about. Clearly there is a diagonal that goes from Northeast Texas down toward San Antonio that anything East of that is still "South". But from Central up to North Texas from about Fort Worth going West it becomes those plains of the "West" until Midland then you are in the "Southwest".
I think geography and climate has as much impact as anything. The portion of Oklahoma that is in the Ozarks is very southern cultured. OKC is more like NM and TX culture, and Tulsa tends more Midwest. These 3 climates are very different and play a big role.
I’m from Louisiana, I don’t consider anything above North Carolina as the south. States above it have historical ties, true..but regionally and culturally? ( in modern times ) It is not the south. Above North Carolina but below Pennsylvania is considered mid-Atlantic. Their culture is totally different from that of true southern states. Even their accents are not southern accents ( despite what a New Yorker would say ). You can be “country” and not be southern, there are rural parts of every state in this country. I’ve met country people in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Idaho, Montana, Washington state, Kentucky and the list can go on.
The South is probably the most clearly or consistently defined region of the country, after New England. The Midwest is easily the most contentious region to define, and the West arguably the most ambiguous. That said, as a Southern man living in the Deep South, Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Kentucky clearly count. Parts of Missouri have solid claims, and I'm not dying on any hills for Maryland, DC, or Delaware.
Southern half of Missouri Below the Missouri river are southern 100 percent. The reason Missouri had a confederate government and soldiers was because the little dixie area of Missouri which was settled by Kentuckians, Tennesseans and Virginians.
Limiting it to state lines is tough, but I guess that's what we have subdivisions for (even though the official Census Bureau subdivisions also follow state lines.) I'd have to do more research into it, but I feel like we could make much more accurate subdivisions that don't adhere to state lines. Rough draft: 1. New England--mostly the same as it is now, but adding parts of upstate New York and subtracting a little bit of Connecticut. 2. NYC Metro: NYC, Long Island, and some of the surrounding parts of NY, CT, and NJ. Not as big as the Census Bureau believes it to be--their definition literally stretches clear into Pennsylvania, but I'm from northwestern NJ and I can assure you that this part of the state is about as Southern as it is New Yorker. 3. Great Lakes East: The rest of upstate New York and much of PA. Maybe a little bit of eastern OH as well, and probably the northern bit of WV. 4. Mid-Atlantic North: Southeastern PA (Philly metro), southern and western NJ, all of DE, MD, and DC, and a bit of WV and VA. These four sub-regions make up the Northeast. 5. Mid-Atlantic South: The rest of VA and WV along with NC and maybe the eastern bit of KY. 6. South Atlantic: SC, GA, eastern TN, and parts of northern FL (but not the Panhandle). 7. Caribbean EN: Central and most of southern FL, plus the USVI. 8. Caribbean ES: Miami area and Puerto Rico. 9. Deep South: FL Panhandle, AL, MS. 10. South Central East: LA, AR, and Eastern TX. 11. Mid-South: the remainder of TN and KY and parts of eastern MO and southern IL and IN. These seven sub-regions make up the South. 12. Great Lakes Central: The rest of OH, IN, and IL, plus MI's lower peninsula. 13. Great Lakes West: WI, most of MN, and MI's upper peninsula. 14. Great Plains East: IA, the rest of MO, the rest of MN, and eastern ND, SD, NE, and KS. These three subregions make up what's currently referred to as the Midwest, but for reasons you'll soon see is now going to be called the Mideast. 15. Great Plains West: Western KS, NE, SD, and ND and eastern MT. 16. South Central West: OK and the rest of TX. 17. Mountain North: The rest of MT, WY, and CO. 18. Mountain South: NM, most of Utah, and eastern AZ. These four subregions make up what will now be called the Midwest. 19. Southwest: Most of AZ and inland SoCal. 20. Nevada: This state is like 90% uninhabited desert and the rest is Las Vegas and Reno; they're clearly their own thing. 21. Mountain West: Northern Utah, Idaho, and eastern WA, OR, and NorCal. 22. Pacific Northwest: The rest of WA and OR and northern CA. 23. Bay Area: Most of the rest of NorCal including all of Silicon Valley. 24. Inland Empire: The rest of eastern CA. 25. South West Coast: Self-explanatory; this is LA and the surrounding counties. 26. Alaska: Honestly I could have moved the eastern arm to PNW but I figured best to just keep it together. 27. Pacific Islands: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and all of those islands that we're mostly just keeping for naval bases. These nine subregions make up the West.
The book "American Nations" by Colin Woodard has a good map of which regions of the country are Southern. There is also a distinct Appalachian culture that is similar, but not identical, to Southern.
Delaware and Maryland fought for the Union in the Civil War and I've always thought of them as Northern states - that's what I was taught in school when we did geography - and sometimes I hear them called Northeast or Mid-Atlantic in weather forecasts, but never Southeast.
Maryland definitely sent troops to support the confederacy. And JW Boothe, who assassinated President Lincoln, was a Marylander "avenging the confederacy" and was hidden by like-minded Marylanders for a little while.
I grew up in Richmond, VA but spent my adult working years in Washington D.C. TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Richmond is ''southern'' all the way but Washington D.C. is definitely a northeast vibe. I draw the line around Fredericksburg, VA.
I'd say Stafford, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania are the Grey Areas of VA. They're not Northern enough to be accepted by NOVA, but the rest of VA doesn't want it.
The dividing line between North and South is determined where the majority of social establishments switch from bars to churches. So Missouri is a split state.
I think that's a good definition. I also would disagree with the map in the video showing where the Bible Belt is. It should definitely go farther north in West Virginia. When you're in Fairmont, WV, you're definitely in the Bible Belt--there are billboards everywhere with religious messages. Go twenty miles north to Morgantown, WV, and you'll see nothing of the sort--but you will see an overwhelming number of bars.
From Atlanta? Traveled all over and I 100 agree with you on the east coast. Also south Florida while not as "southern" as the rest of the south still feels very much southern in its vibe. East texas is the south for sure. Oklahoma is questionable
Grew up in Louisville, KY. I was taught that Louisville was a southern city and Kentucky was a southern state. It confused me that ppl didn’t consider Kentucky southern because that’s what I was taught. Louisville DEFINITELY has a Midwestern influence but I can’t see it as a full Midwestern city like some ppl who consider it to be apart of the region. I’ve visited multiple cities throughout the us (Macon, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Cinci, Indi). Imma say that I felt more familiarity in Macon and Nashville compared to Cincinnati.
I grew up in Michigan and Tennessee.... once you get past indiana Kentucky is the beginning of the South... also halfway through the indiana the accents change and people start sounding southern.
Growing up in Oklahoma City, I always felt that the state tried to align itself more culturally with the "Western" image - cowboys, ranchers, rodeos, and such. We had the Cowboy Hall of Fame and our theme park was Frontier City. Having now lived in just about every corner of the state, I feel like Oklahoma is at the merge point of the Southwest, the Midwest, and the South.
I also grew up in OKC. We are very southern in culture. We are nothing like the southwest or the Midwest. That doesn’t even make sense to me. I have worked in phone customer service for 30 years and the cultures and attitudes are so completely different depending on the region. I definitely prefer clients from the south. My clients from TX, OK and AR are by far my favorite. So chill and relaxed. Louisiana is an exception. They’re kinda hateful. KC and STL are the absolute worst. Especially STL. I’ve never dealt with a ruder more nasty and hateful group of people in my life. My current group of clients are all southwest and Pacific Northwest (CA, AZ, UT, WA). They’re chill until either , A) there’s an issue and then they freak out or B) I tell them I’m in Oklahoma and all of a sudden they automatically hate me.
@@staceystitches I agree that culturally parts of Oklahoma, particularly in the SE, are more in line with the South. There is a reason that McAlester born Carl Albert was known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie." And our cuisine definitely has some Southern influence, especially things like okra and "chicken frying" everything. However, we also have our fair amount of Tex-Mex, which is definitely more Southwestern in culture, and our BBQ is more similar to Texas and KC styles than what you would find in Alabama or the Carolinas. And as I said in my initial post, our state is closely tied with Western imagery and cowboy culture. (When I say Western, I'm referring to cowboys and ranches, not West Coast culture, which is something completely different.) Almost every single major cattle trail ran through what is now Oklahoma. We historically have had and still have a bunch of rodeos. OSU's mascot is the Cowboys. Arguably, the most famous restaurant in the state is Cattleman's Steakhouse located in an area of OKC called Stockyard City. These are all items that are culturally "Southwestern" and "Western." They also bleed more into aspects of the Midwest. Every OU home game features the Sooner Schooner, which is a wagon that was used to settle the Midwest and West. That and the Sooner name, along with the phrase Boomer Sooner are associated with land runs, and while those are fairly unique to Oklahoma, they evoke more of the pioneers of the Midwest than the people of the South. Alongside our ranches we also have a lot of farms, and the style of farm here in Oklahoma is very much the type you find throughout the Midwest. So as I said before, we are blend of all of the above.
I am a Canadian. I thought I was confused, so it is comforting to see that Americans are confused too. My instinct says Maryland and definitely Delaware are northern. DC to me is in both worlds (sort of like how Ottawa in our country is on the border between French and English Canada). Texas I think of as the west (with New Mexico and such). Florida... Not sure where to place it, typical "southern", maybe.
Texas had a big slave port in Galveston, they purposely delayed telling their slaves they were free for 2 years past. They are Southern on the East side, western on the West. Split like Kentucky was.
The confusion stems from the use of geographic regions/directions for culture names. The south, the North, the midwest, east coast/west Coast, pacific Northwest, the northeast, ect.
As a Texan, I like to say that Texas is like a good Southern boy who moved out West for adventure, married a lovely Mexican girl and settled down. They now spend their days cooking recipes from both grandmothers' cookbooks! I'd say that Texas is it's own thing; but is still like a close cousin to the South, with lots of Southern influence still readily apparent (especially the Eastern part of the state).
Southern Florida is mostly populated by a combination of retired New Yorkers (tired of the harsh winters) and Cuban and Haitian refugees. It's mostly the northern parts of Florida where the original Southern culture remains. Much of the southern part of Florida was only settled in the years since WWII. Before that, lack of air conditioning and disease-bearing mosquitos made the area very hard to live in. Tourist resorts (drawing from North Eastern states) were the main driver of settlement in southern Florida. Later, the communist takeover of Cuba, and the collapse of the Haitian government, led to much more Hispanic/Caribbean influence.
I lived in Lexington, Kentucky for 6 years after having lived in Michigan and Missouri, so I felt like it was pretty southern. However, my Alabamian girlfriend insisted that Kentucky wasn't southern or was at least a fusion with the Midwest. I will concede that the suburbs of Cincinnati are more like Ohio than Tennessee. I didn't go to Louisville much, so it may also be Midwestern given its location, but I don't know. However, you don't have to go far into the state to hear southern accents. I heard tons of people in Lexington with southern accents, and the only ones with distinctly Midwestern accents had moved or traveled there from Cincy (aside from my mom). Appalachian culture was emphasized to the point that on a social justice-themed poster in the University of Kentucky Disability Resource Center, "Appalachian students" were listed among other oppressed minorities. I rememeber seeing confederate flags around 10 years ago near Pleasureville, which is as far north as Louisville but in the countryside. Having since moved to Huntsville, Alabama, there certainly are differences, but nothing makes Lexington feel Midwestern except for its proximity to Ohio (ew). Hell, they even have proximity to the Appalachians in common, though Huntsville is more in them while Lexington is just near them. Also, Alabama is hardly more religious than Kentucky, and the biggest denomination in both is Southern Baptist. Still, Lexington is denser than Huntsville, at least in the built-up areas. Huntsville has more recent, sprawling, Sun Belt-style development, which arguably makes it more Southern. Still, Lexington's big thing is horses, and the horse farms make it feel more pastoral, which I associate with the South most heavily, followed by the Great Plains and the Interior West. All that being said, Alabama is more southern than Kentucky. However, parts of each state can easily go toe-to-toe in terms of Southern cred. Is that a good thing? Eh, that's not for me to say. Just don't be a purist.
Never knew until this year some people didn’t consider Ky southern lol, Lexington is a city and has a surprising amount of immigrants so it definitely is less southern feeling then the rest of the state. But you go 15mins outside of it or in Fayette county and it is distinctly southern.
Kentucky is most definitely the south. Horses. KFC. Corvettes. Louisville slugger. Rum, Bourbon, Whiskey. Moonshiners. Hatfield - McCoy feuds. Colonial style houses. Bluegrass music origins. Coal mining culture. And tobacco farms. Kentucky embodies all elements of a southern state and we helped create this culture associated with the “South”. Always have, and we always will. The president of the confederacy was from Louisville and 90% of Kentucky soldiers fought for the south.
@luke2393 I imagine that any city of over 300,000 is gonna have some immigrants, especially with a major university. I hear that Houston is super diverse, as just one example.
@@kilowhiskey7973 Yeah, you added some things I should've thought of. Bluegrass is one of the most Southern music genres in existence. There's no other region it could be from.
It's interesting the various ideas on what the South is. When you look at states like Missouri and Kansas which aren't southern persay, but the dialect in KCMO area in North is far different than in St. Louis. Kansas the closer you get to Oklahoma specifically Wichita the Southern accent as it's deemed begins to resurface. I love in AZ. and it's interesting that once you cross into N.M. whether by I-40 or US60 a majority of the radio stations transition to the biblebelt or Christian/religious station. My family comes from Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and and Texas mainly and the South is one of my favorite areas to visit not because of things to do but I love the overall atmosphere and I love nature
The part of my family from Kansas definitely had more of a country accent. It was still way weaker than the part of my family from Arkansas, but cultures don’t have cut and dried lines. They have a gradient. Southern Missouri, I consider openly southern. It feels just like Arkansas when you’re in there.
I think the south start south of the James River in Richmond Va. you’ll notice that accents start to change and more southern culture are more noticeable. I’ve even heard people in this area Chesterfield Co. / Tri-Cities refer to anything north of Richmond as Yankees.
As someone that grew up in DC and MD, to this day, I'm convinced "Mid-Atlantic" was coined because nobody outside of this region could agree on which "side" we belonged to. I've heard New Yorkers refer to Maryland as "down south" and we already know what the deep south thinks of this region. There's no winning. We are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Being from Maryland I felt this whole comment
Yes, as a Northern Virginian, agreed. We are between and betwixt, Mid-Atlantic.
@@dcseainVirginia is not mid Atlantic , it's the South. Growing up I never heard of anyone saying we were Mid Atlantic. Seems like a politically correct term or something.
As someone from Arkansas, I always thought of Maryland as just an east coast state
@@chriscj71 the East coast is Maine to Florida
I like a county-based view of the south. Southern Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma are far more 'Southern' than Western Maryland and Northern Kentucky, for example.
As someone from the bootheel of Missouri I agree.
me too, dare i say even a little bit of southern illinois and indiana can qualify
As a Western Marylander, I would agree.
@@willsmith3787 it’s always been said that Saint Louis is the northernmost Southern city. I’d say if you’re south of STL and Indianapolis, you’re probably in the South.
@@Sir_Austin_T_Geeplaces south of Indianapolis still aren't southern
As a Southerner myself, ain’t no way anybody calling Maryland or Delaware “Southern”. I’d personally include Virginia and WV, but that’s not universal. Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida are as Southern as you can get except Miami, that’s really just Cuba outside Cuba
You can’t say all of Texas is. El Paso is about as Southern as Bangor Maine.
Plus, WV stayed with the North during the civil war.@contingencyibct3120
Southern Illinois, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, the eastern shore area of Maryland are very southern areas in accents and culture.
They’re are many different southern cultures
Va, NC, Ga, eastern shore Md, SC and Fl have the Atlantic coast southern culture. Ga, NC, Va, Al, have the piedmont culture, La, Ms, Al, Fl, Tx have the Gulf coast culture, W. Va, KY, TN, Va, NC, Ga & Al have the Appalachian culture and Tx, Ark, Ok, Tn, Ms, Mo, Ky, La have that mid south culture. It depends on which part of the state.
But mid south, Atlantic coast south, piedmont south, gulf coast south and Appalachia are the major areas in the south everything else seems to be a merger of those areas and the areas in those states not considered southern still are mixture of that and non southern influence. Also southern influence have been adopted by non southern people to the point where things that were considered southern before aren’t anymore because non southerners use them as well especially slang, speech patterns and even accents oddly enough
I'm from Tampa and moved out of state, went back to work in Orlando, and it was kind of weird how Southern and Evangelical it was, like more than the summer I lived in Pine Mountain, GA. Central Florida is kind of surreal, all the state is, but Orlando in the 90s a lot.
I agree!! But West Virginia, I can’t. I see West Virginia as the “heart of Appalachia”. The many times I been to West Virginia and I was honestly experiencing culture shock rather than cultural familiarity.
As a Mississippian who now lives in D.C., I was surprised to find just how Southern a city D.C. is. Is it the South, no, but there are definite strains of southern culture that exist here.
That’s everywhere that’s north, people migrated
Yeah a lot of people in their 60s and older came from down south and started off their families in the DC area (and other major cities heavily populated with Black ppl). We're culturally not the south in DC, but we got heavy southern ties.
Most folks up north have Southern roots but the pace of places like DC and further North just has a faster pace
Bro even in suburban sf Bay Area I feel southern influence. Maybe cuz of the large number of blacks that came from that area in the earlier 20th century.
Is that strains or stains? jk
I had a sociology class in college with John Shelton Reed, a professor who specialized in "the South". Based on a lot of different factors, like the ones you discussed in this video, he drew a map of the South with gradients of shading. The Deep South all the way up to North Carolina was the most "southern". East Texas and northern Florida were still largely southern, but south Florida and west Texas were hardly southern at all.
and Missouri by golly is a very southern state
@@davehughesfarm7983 it is not. The bootheel is all.
Yeah in Texas it depends o who you are talking about. Black people would most certainly identify themselves with the South, while Mexican people would find much more in common with the more Mexican influenced Southwest. White people in east Texas would also consider themselves southern while one in west or central Texas might not.
West Texas still has a strong southern and Texas accent. Yeah they are most definitely the South. Politically and socially they are much more conservative than New Mexico.
Where did Arkansas fall according to your sociology professor?
As a native Floridian, I would agree that the further south you go in the state, the less southern in culture it gets. However, the interior portions of south Florida are more traditionally southern than the coastal areas. Good breakdown overall of the differences between N and S.
As a fellow Floridian I think outside of the Panhandle / Northern Florida our State has never been truly "Southern" in Culture. Our West coast is dominated by Midwesterners, East Coast by Yankees and Orlando is a mix of everything!
@@xoxxobob61He's right, though. Tampa and Orlando are not the interior he's talking about. He's talking about places like Myakka, Arcadia, Wauchula, Immokalee, and all the towns on the south side of the Okeechobee
@@xoxxobob61it depends on the west coast because I grew up in the central west coast of Florida and the counties there (Hernando, Citrus, and Pasco) would not get confused as being anything other then southern.
@@therambler3055 I agree. I think the natives(ie. And grew up in the “old Florida”) you can agree that any of areas you mentioned or areas outside the major cities are southern. I grew up in Polk county. We have a town in the county named after a politician of the confederacy.
@@xoxxobob61 Dare you to venture around Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades, northern Palm Beach county, Martin/St Lucie county, Brevard county, Lake county, Polk county, Marion county... all of these places you WILL find traditional southern culture. And no they are not in the panhandle. I tell people Florida is practically 6 states in one because it really is. There are 6 distinct regions of the state that culturally are completely different from one another. You have North Florida, NW Florida (panhandle), Central Florida, Southeast Florida, West/Southwest Florida and the Florida Keys.
As someone from the South, when I went the DMV area, it definitely felt way more northern than southern
I lived in Arkansas for 3 years (work) but grew up in NYC, one of the 15 Republicans from the city. Fort Smith Arkansas was the only DMV experience I didn't hate. I came in looking lost, right away a woman was like "Can I help you?" I said I needed Arkansas plates and I was like guided through the whole process. Didn't have one of the items I needed and they overlooked it (I assume because I was polite, asking people how their day is going gets you a long way sometimes) Was in and out in like 20 minutes.
@@Cruor34 Oh DMV here is DC, Maryland, Virginia, not that DMV lol
Definitely. Lived in the dmv for 4 years & it’s doesn’t give southern at all.
Every crappie big city in texas is just as marxist yankee as new york
Born and raised in DMV. DMV is NorthEast liberal despite not being in NE
I grew up in South Florida. I remember going up to Northern Florida with a friend and his family to go camping in some of the natural springs. We went to a big lake and were swimming with the locals. The local kids from there heard us talk and our accent and heard the word "dude" and immediately asked if we were from California. I was so confused lol. I didn't realize the cultural divide even within the same state. But yeah Northern/Southern Florida are completely different beasts.
Southern Florida is where most of the crime is.
Dude is a definite California term.
very true. The bottom penninsula and pretty much greater miami region is not like the rest. It pretty much turns into Cuba and Bahamas. The more north you get it's pretty much Georgia
New Yorker heavy condos and hispanic heavy neighborhoods in the same cities in south Florida are entirely different worlds
No disrespect but how old are you ? Cause if someone thought you were from California just from saying dude you sound like a baby boomer in age at least.
I absolutely agree with you that the south starts at Virginia and ends when you go into DC and Maryland. I was also born and raised in NC and yes, it is the south.
For me, once I get to Fredericksburg driving south on I-95, I'm officially in "The South".
@contingencyibct3120 yes
They are always questioning NC as the South (likely from a political standpoint because it used to be a Purple state) but bullshit. NC is the South. Outside of the big cities, ten miles out is as rural as it gets.
My cousin and her husband live in Virginia and they both used to live in Maryland and they consider Maryland not in the South
There are places in Maryland that feel exactly like North Carolina or Virginia. You just have to get away from the DC region
As someone who grew up and still live in the Florida Panhandle, I definitely agree the Panhandle and everything north of Gainesville is definitely the south. Once you pass Gainesville the culture, population and infrastructure seems more northern. Those of us who live in Panama City often say we live in Lower Alabama rather than Florida.
I live in Panama City, FL having recently moved from Panama City, Panama 😂😂😂
@@ZaKRo-bx7lphow accurate is the name for the Florida Panama City?
I'm from Pensacola and I agree
Ocala is a southern city as well and it's south of Gainesville. I would say southern culture starts disappearing after you go just south of Ocala.
Not really, all of Polk county looks like Gainesville 😂, I’m from Florida too, Duval tho, all of Florida looks the same. I definitely get what you’re saying but aside from Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando… the other cities definitely give that “southern” feeling.
The "boundaries" of any given region simply cannot follow state borders. Even the historical civil war line is no longer entirely defining.
like how west virginia was distinct from virginia ecen before virginia
Maryland and Delaware can kiss our southern azz
Im from southern Illinois and we have a very heavy southern influence.
There's a Confederate memorial in Paducah, a city that was a major Union supply hub throughout the war. The Confederates raided the city a couple of times but never controlled it.
I discovered something interesting when I was following the path of the Mason-Dixon line, it runs about 5 miles south of Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois.
@@coryburris8211I believe Lincoln was born in Kentucky, the moved to Illinois.
Being from West Virginia is a little silly in terms of the north/south argument. WV split from VA over slavery so most people here really don't like using the term south, BUT most people will agree we're definitely not northern from a cultural standpoint. Many of the people I talk to around here just call it Appalachia, and we tend to see ourselves as weirdly disconnected from other surrounding states, as if we're this secret 3rd option.
Not sure where in WV you are from, but I'm from Charleston and we consider ourselves "Southern". Culturally we do identify as "Appalachian"
I'm from the eastern panhandle. I'll admit I don't usually get that far down into the state, but I normally linger around Canaan Valley
People in the Northern Panhandle definitely Do Not consider themselves part of the South.
I’m in Mercer County, West by God Virginia in the very southern portion of the state on the Virginia border. We are definitely Southern no doubt about it. Culturally, food, religion, it’s crazy humid, covered In Virginia creeper (vine that ate the south), and we have a biscuit and gravy drive thru food chain lol. We just didn’t agree with slavery.
I’m in Mercer County, West by God Virginia in the very southern portion of the state on the Virginia border. We are definitely Southern no doubt about it. Culturally, food, religion, it’s crazy humid, covered In Virginia creeper (vine that ate the south), and we have a biscuit and gravy drive thru food chain lol. We just didn’t agree with slavery.
If you base it on culture, which is really how I look at the South - then you can't exclusively use state boarders. I agree with you that Florida is a mix - transitioning somewhere around Ocala into something less Southern and into something unique. For Texas, it's really like 3-4 regions (big state) - Great Plains, West Texas, Rio Grande and East Texas (south).
There is also the hill country.
@leechjim8023 Culturally, I'd say West and South Texas are Southwestern, Plains and Hill Country are more Western, and East Texas including most of the Gulf Coast Plains are South.
@@wordforger agree with most of your comment, except for the Gulf Coast Plains, they are definitely not southern. Brownsville up to Houston has its own culture. Lots of ranching and hispanic culture there.
American alligators are found in the southeast United States: all of Florida and Louisiana; the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi; coastal South and North Carolina; East Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma, and the southern tip of Arkansas. Alligators have also been found in New Mexico, but it is rare.
I think this pretty much sums up what is the "south". any state that has alligators.
I live in CLT and grew up in the DMV, this was such a comprehensive, accurate and thoughtful video, great job.
This is an authoritative, fascinating, well-balanced channel with a great narrator.
That map putting Delaware in the south is wild lol
Delaware is Yankee town and so is Maryland. I’ve been to Maryland and it’s very Yankee
@@angelacooper8973 Delaware is basically east Pennsylvania.
@@angelacooper8973 I lived in Maryland for a year and east Maryland is mid Atlantic for sure. However western Maryland feels pretty southern, I’m speaking culturally of course
@@JoaninFloridaNo, New Castle county is. Kent and Sussex counties are very much more Southern in culture.
I grew up and still live on the Delmarva/Eastern Shore and Delaware south of New Castle county is very much still Southern in culture. You can easily find Confederate Flag’s in Sussex county still. There’s still hints of the NorthEast but Delmarva is very much dominated by Southern culture. New Castle County in Delaware (it’s most northern county), is the only part of Delaware besides the shore that feels Northern. Even Middletown still feels like the South despite the boom.
From MD but have lived in the north and south. MD has very little in common south and I believe traditional southern culture really starts in Richmond now. Northern VA has lost it's southern culture..
It starts at Fredricksburg/ Culpeper
*in common with the south
*its (possessive pronoun)
it's = contraction of "it is" or "it has"
All contractions have apostrophes. Possessive pronouns never do.
I live in both Culpeper and Charlottesville, and the southern characteristics are leaning much more towards NoVA these days. Even FXG is becoming more "northern". I blame I95 in the case of the latter.@@MeadeFatLoss
@@WhoBeSilly Imo the real/ Virginia starts at Fredericksburg, even with the DC spill over, but it's not cut and dry. Winchester area feels Southern , and I was recently in Luray and the Southern accents were thick , even for me . So nova is really a mixed bag with pockets of Virginia left in the middle.
In my experience, the "southern culture" feels start past Chester. Like, Richmond has a lot of historical sites, but culturally feels more like nova's slightly chattier cousin than anything. Remove the historical elements and Richmond and above lack any sort of southern "charm"
The South:
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
- Louisiana
- West Virginia
- Florida (especially the north)
The DEEP South
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- South Carolina
The Appalachian South
- West Virginia
- Virginia
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
South/Midwest hybrid
- Missouri
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
South/South West hybrid
- Texas
South/Latin America hybrid
- Florida (Cuba, PR)
- Texas (Mexico)
Definitely not the south
- Maryland
- Delaware
- Washington DC
Only far western NC is Appalachian, the coastal plains region is the lowland south.
i mostly like this
As a Kentucky native Im glad that you agree with me that Kentucky is southern. If Missouri is the "Gateway to the West", then Kentucky in my eyes is the "Gateway to the South".
@@baritone_vocalist absolutely! The only parts of Ky that seem midwestern are the greater Cincinnati area and maybe parts of Louisville. The rest is as Southern as Tennessee
West Virginia isn’t southern.
What’s a bit of a mind blower, is that the extreme southern part of New Jersey is below the latitude part of the Mason - Dixon line.
I've visited that place many times, total hick country. Seen Confederate flags flown there which blew my mind.
Neither Maryland Virginia or West Virginia are in The South. They are completely in the north.
@@Texan_christian1132 Go to Lynchburg, Danville, Farmville, or even just outside Richmond and tell me that aint the South
@@Texan_christian1132Virginia and WV are southern, not us Marylanders, DC, or Delawareans
@@mikeytaylorjrIt's not just the southern part of the state. The rural counties along the northern part of the PA border are also very redneck (I live in one of them).
But yes, geography does suggest that NJ is further south than people think. The entire state is located south of the southernmost point in Canada, which doesn't sound like a big deal but you'd be surprised by how many states aren't--for example, California/Nevada/Utah aren't. Did you know that the latitude line that forms those states' northern border is the same one that forms the long straight part of the NY/PA border?
And, yes, Cape May is just barely north of DC.
Florida is actually 3 different states in one: Southern Alabama, Disney world, and Northern Cuba
So North, Central, and South Florida
South Brooklyn is bigger than any of those. Cubans assimilate. New Yorkers never do.
I've always considered Texas as doing it's own thing, maybe with Oklahoma attached. Texas has it's own unique state pride and culture that feels very different from the more traditional south. Maryland, DC, and definitely Delaware are not really southern in any way anymore. West Virginia and Kentucky are probably the trickiest for me. West Virginia has more in common with Appalachian PA and Eastern Tennessee than the south or mid atlantic and KY is a mix of midwest, southern, and Appalachian culture. Florida is probably southern on average.
Florida and Texas are in league of their own. The upper south is more or less in the political and cultural sphere of north east, and the rest is the south.
Northern florida is south, while southern florida is south american/Caribbean and middle florida is a mess.
East texas and Houston are “southern” though. Well Houston not as much today as when I grew up but we do consider ourselves to be southern grown. The rest of Texas I wouldn’t call Southern at all.
The South starts at Virginia, ends at northern Florida, and stretches as far west as East Texas
@@nightpups5835 Central Florida or Orlando, Tampa, Lakelamd, The Villages, etc. are basically their own thing now
People not from the South tend to think negatively about the South in general. So when they relocate to a place in the South, they justify it by claiming it is not actually the South. Mental gymnastics basically. Personally, I go with the Census definition; the South is not a monolith, its many things.
100 percent facts. The census definition is the geopgraphic south. People try to spin it into a culture issue.
Agree
Somebody on Twitter said Charlotte isn’t the south. The transplant was from Jersey or New York.
@@AuburnFanSince2010I remember being in Charlotte one time and being absolutely shocked at how the city just completely shut down at 6 pm. That skyline sure fools ya.
@@dirtycommie2877Wyoming and California both are the west (nobody would argue differently)but they’re completing different.
But Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia being different from the slower states like Alabama and Mississippi all of sudden it’s a discussion whether or not these states are southern.
A few years ago, some researchers found the new Mason Dixon line by finding the McDonalds that did not serve sweet tea. That line goes right through the middle of VA, just north of Richmond.
Lol.
They had sweet tea in White Marsh, Maryland. This is cap.
@@AuburnFanSince2010- They have Sweet Tea in Harlem, New York.
That was fake
If you think McDonald's Sweet tea is good then you've never had good sweet tea.
Sometimes TX and OK are considered part of the Southwest. I think you could split it culturally down the middle, the east being more wooded and similar to AR, the west half being more semi arid rolling prairies. It could also be considered being in the southern plains.
I agree with this! With that said, it’s hit or miss in the Dallas area. Parts of the city feels like the traditional south while other parts feel a bit different m. Not quite SW, but a mixture of the two. I’m originally from NC. It’s just different out here overall even though both are in the south.
as an Oklahoman i dont consider myself a southerner and i get offended when people associate my with southerners. I'm not from Confederate heritage. I'm from outlaws, sharecroppers and Natives. The people from our state went west to California in the dustbowl and in hard times. Not east and into the south.
@@VolkXue As someone from Oklahoma I consider myself an Okie, but also a southerner. I'm also Native and a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation. If you get offended when someone associates you with southerners it's because of your own personal biases and negative connotations with "The South". There is more to being southern than the Civil War or the Confederacy. And as much as it might pain you to hear, Oklahoma is culturally southern. The official "Oklahoma state meal" is made up of southern foods such as chicken fried steak, barbecue pork, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, grits, pecan pie, etc. Likewise, linguists classify the Okie accent as Southern American English, though we have a South Midlands accent that is closer to a Texas accent than an accent from one of the southeastern states. Additionally, Oklahoma is in the Bible Belt, and religion is huge here just as it is everywhere else in the south.
As for what you said about the dustbowl, Oklahoma culture came well before the 1930s, so Okies leaving for California had little effect on Oklahoma culture, other than spreading the culture west to California. There are still people that consider themselves "Okies" in California today. What made Oklahoma's culture "Southern" is that a many of the settlers that came here in the late 1800s came here from the southern states. Additionally, every one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" that came here in the 1830s, when Oklahoma was "Indian Territory" all came from the Southeast.
@@JayEvans1911A1 you literally dont live in the south, buddy
Most Oklahomans accents are midwestern (aka no real accent) and the Native community has its own accents. They dont speak like southerners. Kinda like the Native community has its own regional foods that you didnt mention lol
We had just as many settlers that were immigrants and from the east if not more. EW Marland, giant oil guy? Pennsylvania. We did have runaway slaves and outlaws. Oklahoma wasn't exactly a place a ton of people wanted to live by choice.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws had cotton slaves down there in the far south of Oklahoma though and we still have a lot of racists and southern throwbacks down there. Like that racist sherif with the leaked audio or whatever. He thought he lived in the south and that didnt work out for him
@@VolkXue It must bother you that the US government has placed us in the South and not the Midwest, despite your opinions. I'm pretty sure that decision was based on a number of factors, not just geographic location.
If I had to take a guess, I suspect that you're from the city, and probably from Tulsa. That's probably why you think most Oklahomans have midwestern accents. Or you're from extreme northwestern Oklahoma near the pan handle. If you ever ventured outside of city limits, and still made the claims that most Okies sound midwestern you're either not paying attention, or you're being disingenuous because of your personal biases.
I'm native, and know just as many natives with Okie accents, as natives with a "rez accent". I also didn't mention native foods because I didn't think that I needed to. But since you mention it, grits which many people consider southern (and also a part of the official "Oklahoma state meal") is called Sofkee and was eaten by natives long before it was eaten by white southerners. Additionally, beans and corn bread is originally a native dish. Southern foods have been influenced by native foods.
The "Five Civilized Tribes" that are now in Oklahoma were all originally in the southeast, and had lived near and had interacted with white southerners for years before removal to "Indian Territory" in the 1830s. The cultures influenced one another.
Yes, some people immigrated here from regions other than the south and continue to do so. The big oil guy that you mentioned, no doubt moved here during the oil boom in the early 1900s because he wanted to make money. The big cities, OKC and Tulsa especially have a large number of transplants, though the state overall has not changed culturally. You equate the south with racism, the Civil War, and the confederacy. There's a lot more to southern culture than that, but you're so blinded by your own personal biases and prejudices that you'll dismiss any evidence that is contrary to your own opinion. That being said, I think that this conversation has probably ran it's course.
Grew up in Maryland. Yes its below the Mason-Dixon line, but very few Marylanders would consider themselves Southern. You hit a lot on the Civil War aspect but remember that Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy though they were slave states. I don't know enough about Kentucky to say if its Southern or Mid-Western, but Maryland, DC, & Delaware are much more Mid-Atlantic with PA/NJ than Southern. Once you get out of the DC Metro heading south, that's the South. I knew tons of Virginian's with Southern Accents. Not so in Maryland. Also Maryland has a weird culture all its own.Thanks for the video!
Kentucky and Missouri did join the confederacy. That's why there's 13 stars on the flag. They had dual confederate and union governments.
I've been to Kentucky enough to say that at least parts of it are southern. Western Kentucky definitely has a strong southern accent and culture, although I've heard some people say that northern Kentucky lacks a southern culture. I think that in most of the border states, there will be a mix of southern and not southern culture
However, Maryland has a distinct lack of this in my view. The rural parts of Maryland don't feel southern to me, they just feel rural.
Kentucky only has a lack of of southern culture in the 3 counties near the top of the ohio river. And in Louisville. So 4 counties out 120.@@alexray230
@@alexray230Kentucky is by far the most southern of the four “border states” in my opinion, it’s not even really close, although there is some midwestern influence the closer you get to the Ohio River. I’ve always said Louisville is the northernmost Southern city and Cincinnati is the southernmost Northern one
Get south of Louisville and Kentucky gets southern fast !
My parents were from Eastern and Central Oklahoma. They had Southern type drawl, although not as thick as some in the Deep South. Mom was a Southern cook (my California friends growing up loved to come to our house for dinner!). Religion was Southern Baptist. Mom told me as a little girl she remembered seeing "white" and "colored" drinking fountains and restrooms in Oklahoma City. Most of the state is to this day culturally Southern in many ways.
Driving across Oklahoma, I could see it being southern for most of the state but switching to Western or Plains around Oklahoma City westward. The funny thing is that culture really doesn't adhere to state lines very well - just like "pop" vs "soda" vs "coke".
Thanks for not bashing us southerners for all the things that make us a little different than other Americans. Keep up the good work. Oh and I live in Appalachia TN. The historical architecture, mountain views and kind people make it a safe and lovely place to live.
Hey, goofy southern guy, why would he bash the south when he's from the south and is just doing a video on which states are in the south complete with verified data? Do you southerners have to always be extra with everything?
@@TopBillinSportsNow I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or dead serious?
@@error3821 - ? Then you, too, must also be a goofy southerner like the OP.
@@TopBillinSports Troll
@@error3821 - Dude, stop commenting to me. You're about as dumb as a bag of flour. If you can't follow simple dialogue, I'm not the one to be commenting to.
Thank you so much for this video bro! I'm born Brazilian, living in Brooklyn and with so many unanswered questions in my mind... well, not anymore haha I liked how simple, sincere and straightforward this video was about so much stuff. Definitely one of the most helpful videos I've seen in life. thks buddy!
Thanks, now subscribed. This is among the clearest and most-well articulated videos and explanations of which areas are southern. You're correct about politics not being a useful barometer, with it changing so easily. I would add cultures, mannerisms, accents, and of course climates and vegetation offer good clues.
I think it's difficult to necessarily mark any region of the US as distinct anymore. Because migration is such a common practice today, peoples customs become more dispersed and accepted within different regions. I do think that very rural parts of the US, where people tend to stay longer in the area they were born, can still retain many of those traits that define a region. This is why many poor rural areas of the midwest, have much stronger southern identities than most southern cities, even though they have no traditional southern ties at all.
The rural areas of the Midwest has southern identities because they're rural. Most of the south is rural. It's the rural identity that does that
I think this is only true if you think rural life and only it’s worst stereotypes are inherently “southern”. If rural poverty is the only commonality required then a large part of the entire world is culturally “southern”.
Im a Virginian and Idefinitely consider myself a Southerner!
Yes. Virginia is definitely southern as I was told when my daughter went to VCU. Even though we are over thw line from each other.
I’m surprised NC isn’t contested more. Every time I say I’m from the south, NC, I always get the same response “That ain’t the south!” 🤷♀️
Us along with VA, SC and GA started the south.
never heard it wasn't southern but I can see them saying southeast obviously. But the everything started on that side of things
Boundary of The South: VA South of the DC Metro, Southern half of WV, kentucky south of louisville metro, southern MO, western edges of AR and LA, FL Panhandle + Jacksonville.
you scared me so bad to see a satellite shot of my town looking down at my house suddenly show up on screen when discussing northern suburbs! haha
great video, love the insight. i always found it odd as a pennamite that maryland was ever considered southern. spent a lot of time in baltimore and could honestly be convinced i was still in my home state. the coastal culture reminds me a ton of jersey's, and i always saw the state as very northern.
delaware is without a doubt an extension of NJ and PA culturally to me, although i will say i've met people from delaware who have thick southern accents and swear they're southern. so i guess in the same way that virginia has very northern aspects in its urban centers and sort of gradually transitions throughout the state, there's areas in maryland and delaware that still feel very southern in their culture.
Lol, so you met a couple of people in Delaware with southern accents that meant something? My man, Delaware, especially the Wilmington, Newark, Christiana, New Castle area is little Philly. Same exact accents and tons of crossover with Philadelphians moving there for the lower cost of living.
I lived in Baltimore, and I live in South Jersey now, and I don't see many similarities. The food is way different and of course the accents are drastically different. South Jersey is also little Philly. All of our media is based out of Philly. And of course North Jersey is based on the culture of New York.
Virginia is Southern
Well now we all know where you live
@@ekothesilent9456 - Your point, weirdo?
@@TopBillinSports bro you have 28 antagonistic comments and replies on here calling people all sorts of things from “goofy” to “weirdos” to “ stupid southerners” you’re like those weird people who hang out at the subway and make it your goal to creep as many people out as possible. You realize anyone can click your profile and read everything you’ve ever written right? You and the original commenter really need to learn how to use the internet. That or your parents need to take your phone away. Clearly my point is that you people have no idea what proper internet etiquette is. Your digital footprint is very real and in your case it’s tied to your actual face and the inside of your home that you post here.
You are a UA-cam channel and the first thing anyone sees on your channel is your weird angry replies to everyone. Do better bro.
Ty for the great introduction to the south. Great vid!
Excellent job, Mike. You refreshed and sharpened my understanding with your historical references. I am not as well-traveled in the US as you are, but as a 60-year-old native Central Floridian, your commentary and opinions parallel mine without any disagreement.
SC born & raised here. Baltimore/DC area definitely has a Yankee feel. They could tell I wasn't from round these parts 😂
I have family from Maryland, and I will never consider them southerners.
Nice one Mike appreciate your hard work to help us understand the geopolitical issues and questions of the us
The south begins on the east coast once you’re south of the DC suburbs as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t feel like the south socially and culturally until you reach that point. There’s no way that Maryland is in the south. Maryland has more in common with Delaware and Pennsylvania than it does with Georgia or Tennessee.
Agreed on all fronts.
Simply not true at all. Maryland outside of DC is 100% southern
@@ConnorRussell27 no not really
@@ConnorRussell27no its not lol
@@LJHeiss301 yeah it is
I grew up in OK and western AR and I can say that my culture there was definitely southern. Ended up moving to Central Florida and stayed there for nearly 30 years. The panhandle and upper third or so is southern. Even Central Florida is peppered with southerners enough that you can get a feel for it especially in the more rural areas. But there are enough "snow birds" and "transplants" in Orlando and the coastal areas to divorce them from their southern title. Miami has such a large Hispanic population that it's culturally its own unique entity. Next I lived in southern CA (LA) for about 5 years. Now I'm in rural NC. My time in Cali taught me that you can take the girl out of the south but you can't take the south out of the girl. As for TX, I'd say it is also culturally diverse and would have to be broken up into regions. But just generally speaking, yeah, southern. Definitely not Maryland.
I’m a Northern Virginian, and this region is solidly Mid-Atlantic/NE, and unlike elsewhere in Virginia.
Central Virginian- definitely the south here. The line is blurry but definitely somewhere between norva and Richmond.
I agree. I've been to the DMV numerous times and Northern VA feels like an extension of the Mid-Atlantic region because it's heavily influenced by DC since it makes up part of the metro area. Now the rest of Virginia is southern and isn't like the Mid-Atlantic region, culturally, linguistically, or politically. The Mid-Atlantic region today would be New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Once you get past Northern Virginia, you're officially entering the south, and Richmond is the first city in the south.
I firmly disagree. Nova is not northern . Leesburg, Warrenton, even old town Alexandria has a Southern feel. Fredericksburg/Culpeper is Southern too.
You don't represent all of us or speak for me
I live in Hampton the Roads, VA area. Strangely most people who moved from Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida o Virginia don't claim us as the South. 😂They group us with Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. I believe it because in Hampton Roads aka (Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton and Suffolk) many ex military settle here. We also have many people who moved from New York, Maryland and New Jersey. I'll just say
this area is unique because we have Air Force base in Newport News, Navy and Coast Gaurd Base in Portsmouth, Navy Base in Norfolk, Fort Eustis Army Base and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and Navy Oceana Navy Air Base in Virginia Beach. People from all over the U.S.A settle here. This is what makes my area culturally unique.
Hampton Roads Virginia is the true MID ATLANTIC STATE.
When I visited Louisville a few years ago, some locals I was talking to at a bar described their city as the Portland of the midwest and the city certainly feels more midwest than the south. But it is on the northern border so of course there's going to be some overlap.
If you go a little bit south and east of Louisville, it gets southern real quick.
Louisville is a river town like Cincy. It's both. Get north of Cincy and it gets midwestern fast. Same for get south or east of Louisville and it gets southern quick.
I've heard it said that Louisville is the most northern Southern city OR the most southern Northern city.
I drove from my very Midwestern city in Michigan to Louisville in 2016 and had the pleasure of witnessing 2 shirtless white guys with long-ish mullet-like hair arguing outside of a gas station. There was a small crowd forming but it never came to blows. That is what Louisville is to me.
Louisville is the most Northern Southern city and Cincinnati is the most Southern Northern city.
In my opinion, I like interstate 64 as the north-south divide. That said the north-south divide seems to continue pushing south especially by DC. It seems surprisingly accurate to what I wanted looking for some existing line. West Virginia is in my opinion, aligned with southern values but Appalachian as is western Maryland western Virginia and other areas
Hanover County is north of I-64.
That does work because south Illinois and Indiana are not Southerner. Maybe where I-64 meets the Ohio river
Fun fact... look at all the major interstates of the US... going from west to east, all the interstates running north/south end in a "5"... i-5, i-15, i-25, i-35... starting in the south and moving north, all interstates running east/west end in a "0"... i-10, i-20, i-30, i-40...
@@TheJuanqui1 south Illinois cities such as Anna and Cairo feel pretty southern
@TheJuanqui1 I'm from indianapolis and drive a truck for work southern indiana and illinois definitely feel southern when I first started I was surprised to hear a southern accent in the south part of indiana
I was born and raised in Central Florida so I do feel like the southerness is still around in this area, at least outside of the major cities. You know the ones. Granted my mom and dad are from the Midwest and New England respectively so that is an issue, but there's alot of fast food chicken restaurants, sweet tea, churches, grits, and cajun food so that probably helps. Not to mention, I've definitely heard people speak a more traditional southern accent of some kind, though it is still kinda rare even in the more rural areas. That and a Tennessee girl moved down to my school for awhile with a thick Tennessee accent, wait actually that last part doesn't matter much. Also Outlaws, a southern rock band, is from Tampa, as well as Christian metal band Underoath. And Christian rock band Anberlin is from my home town of Winter Haven
I lived in Orlando for about 12 years (15 total in Florida). Gainesville is southern but Orlando is not. Tampa and most of SW FL is not but north of Tampa - yes. Daytona Beach northward is southern but Cape Canaveral south is not. Jax is home of Lynard Skynard - so very southern (basically GA annex). Basically, if you can unquestionable find sweet tea in every food establishment - you're in the south. It is hit-or-miss, it is a transition zone.
Southerners aren’t confused about the boundaries of the Deep South and the south. It’s only cultural outsiders that I find to be confused. A coworker of mine from CA said that CA was southern 😂
😂😂😂
California is not southern! Bless his heart.
I agree. My definition of the South is the same as yours - Census definition *minus* DC, MD, and DE.
Personally, in my opinion, I think every state (except for Maryland, Delaware, and Washington D.C.) that the US Census Bureau defines as “southern” are a part of the south.
I know states like Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and even Missouri at times are debated as being southern or not. However, the way I look at it is Virginia is very much a southern state outside of NOVA and the DC area. West Virginia and Kentucky are more Appalachian in culture, but they are still southern in a lot of ways. Texas and Oklahoma are a weird mix of southern, midwestern, and western, but most people I have met from those states identify as southerners. Florida is very much a southern state until you hit southern Florida (like Miami area).
I think Missouri is not a southern state. Culturally, it is similar to the south, but it still has that Midwest vibe and feel to it as well as when you look at its location on the map of the USA.
The other states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas) are undeniably southern.
Lol why do you people think Kentucky is appalchian? 1/4th of the state is mountains. If you think applachia is a region then you agree that Western MA has things in common with Nothern Georgia. It's flat and they grow cotton in the western half. South-Central Kentucky is all tobacco farms with rolling hills. Central Kentucky is where the bluegrass slave planters lived. Northern Kentucky and Louisivlle are a mix-mash of northern and southern culture.
Sigh....WV seceded from Virginia specifically to stay in the North. I am a yinzer and have nothing in common with anyone in Kentucky.
Kentucky is most definitely the south.
Horses. KFC. Corvettes. Louisville slugger. Rum, Bourbon, and Whiskey. Moonshiners. Hatfield - McCoy feuds. Colonial style houses. Bluegrass music origins. Coal mining culture. And tobacco farms.
Oh. And the president of the confederacy was from Louisville and 90% of Kentucky soldiers fought for the south.
… But we aren’t “southern”, right? We created a big part of this culture.
Kentucky is part of the East South Central States (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi). Only about 1/4th of the state is Appalachian and only about 3 counties in Northern KY have a Midwestern feel. The vast majority of places in Kentucky are undeniably Southern. In fact, a larger percentage of Kentuckians identify as Southerners than North Carolinians, South Carolinians, Virginians, West Virginians, Floridians, Texans and Okies that do.
This was a damn good video brother, keep makin content
There was a great essay by John Shelton Reed /decades/ ago about this, and while his answer involved looking in phone books, he suggest a good enough answer that’s very easy to apply:
Does kudzu grow there?
And when you look at a map showing that line, it’s pretty accurate.
I grew up in Oklahoma. I moved to Tampa right out of high school. I was told that I spoke with a western twang.Ironically, after being in florida for 10 months I had to go back for my grandmother's funeral. I was shocked. I could hear the difference myself. I DID NOT like what I was hearing. I don't think of Okahoma as the south. It's more southWESTERN to me.
I've always thought this about Oklahoma but I'm from Georgia. I've lived in Oklahoma and experienced the difference immediately
I grew up in Florida, have family in California and to them I have a Southern accent.
The Indian Territory region of Eastern Oklahoma is coined Little Dixie because of the federal government moving the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee, Cherokee, and Seminole nations. Indian Territory was also a CSA strong hold due to the reparations and the ability to move back to the homelands if they CSA actually gained independence from the US. Fort Towson, for example, was the main CSA fort in what is now known (since 1917) Oklahoma.
Thing is some parts of Florida have just as much of a twang, just a different flavor. In my high school there would be kids from the same town some who spoke with the standardized east coast white accent and then guys who had full blown southern redneck accents.
I agree. I grew up in the bootheel of Missouri and used to date a girl from Edmond Oklahoma, they was shocked with my accent
I did not vote in your polls, but I agree with the results. There are a lot of transplants here in South Florida, mostly NY and PA, but that seems to be a growing problem in all of the South now.
If gentrification never happened in nyc most New Yorkers I believe would have stood home. But we are loosing lots of our
Puerto Ricans Italians blacks and
Jews to Florida. Now Russians Ukrainians Uzbek’s Dominicans & Mexican immigrants are dominating nyc also we have a high number of hipsters from the Midwest and Pacific Northwest that are dominating nyc as well.
NYC NJ Long Island are very high Taxes and Housing costs for Retired People. It's that simple. And many people want a warmer climate. Not me, I Love NYNJ Great area to Retire if you can afford it
0:01 Q: What Is “The South?”
0:13 Where are “The South’s Boundaries?”
*The South*
0:52 The Federal Government’s Definition of “The South” of America 🇺🇸
*The South and The Civil War*
1:49 The Historical South, The Confederacy. “Dixie”
2:42 Slave States
3:03 Missouri is a Midwestern State more than a South State
3:12 Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida can be included in definition of “The South”
*Southern Culture*
3:38 Southern Culture
3:49 Food of The South
- Higher obesity rates
4:24 Less Socially Progressive than other American Regions 🇺🇸
4:36 Black Americans live in The South 🤵🏿♂️
5:05 Black Cities 🏙️
*Appalachia* ⛰️
5:14 Appalachian Culture ⛰️
*Churches* ⛪️ ✝️
5:41 High Church Attendance in The South
5:57 The South coincides with “The Bible Belt.” ✝️📖
*South States and Cities that aren’t exactly Culturally Southern*
6:05 Maryland and Washington D.C. are less Southern culturally since becoming more Metropolitan.
6:52 🌊🔥🇨🇺Miami Florida is more Latino South American Culture. Rather than Southern Culture
I remember the early '80s book "The Nine Nations of North America", by Joel Garreau, which subdivided the continent into distinct cultural/geographic areas that didn't necessarily conform to political boundaries. In that book, he put heavily Spanish-speaking Miami in "The Islands" (the Caribbean) while the rest of Florida went to "Dixie". Texas was split into three areas, Dixie (East), "The Breadbasket" (North and Central), and "Mexamerica" (South/border areas).
Subsequent books about regional geography tend to adjust Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia into what Garreau would call "The Foundry" (the industrialized East Coast/Midwest), and restrict the Florida part of Dixie to the Panhandle and Jacksonville. What they would put Central Florida in, I can't really figure out. Texas likely has that same three-way split, with different borders depending on external and internal migration.
BTW, the only region Garreau kept the same as its political border was Quebec.
No, Virginia is part of Tidewater and Greater Appalachia
I'd say you draw a line south of Gainesville and Daytona. Gainesville and Daytona are in the south, no question. Orlando though? Ehhhh
I'd split Oklahoma as well, from say highway 75 east is part of the south, west of that it's kinda Midwest, and far western Oklahoma is desert Southwest.
Loved that book. From Arkansas, lived in Wisconsin for 4 years. Found the divisions matched my experiences. Look at also, The Day America Told The Truth. Their divisions were close, and based on survey answers. They stayed in the US, and ended up splitting the South and the Mid-Atlantic.
I’m familiar with that map, I call bullshit. The “breadbasket” is an agricultural region, not a cultural region. Dakotans and West Texans are not part of the same cultural group.
I live in the northern panhandle of WV (the northernmost part of your "south" map). I am surprised you didn't mention WV. It's a bit of a toss up because it separated itself from VA in the Civil War due to conflicting views on slavery. Culturally WV south of Clarksburg, WV is the south in my mind.
Follansbee girl here....this is spot on. I just said to my husband that Clarksburg is the spot where things start to change. Graduated from Fairmont State, so I have the same feel for this as you.
West Virginia was a slave state in the US. It broke away from Virginia because WV wanted to remain in the US and not join the CSA.
I feel like in North Carolina we pride ourselves in being southern but we also pride ourselves in not being the deep south.
Eastern NC is lowland south so I wouldn't call us upper south. The coastal plains region is more deep south culturally than anything. We pride ourselves on being southern though regardless.
As Oklahoman with Georgia, Alabama, and Florida roots your assessment is spot on. I lived in all of these places along with the Midwest ( KS, Missouri, and Ohio) you did a great job
The South is:
All of:
Mississippi
Alabama
Louisiana
S. Carolina
N. Carolina
Georgia
Arkansas
Tennessee
Most of (90%+):
Kentucky
West Virginia
Virginia
Eastern half of:
Oklahoma
Eastern third of:
Texas
Southern third of:
Missouri
Northern third/half of:
Florida
Very tip of (10-15%):
Illinois
Panhandle of:
Maryland
correct
Illinois?
@@toxicperson8936
Yeah, the area around the Ohio river is most definitely southern
A lot of the confusion comes from the fact the government doesn't have an official stance on regions. Yes, each department within the government has it's own official definitions but there is no umbrella definition, each department uses regions that logistically makes sense for it's purpose. FWIW I say from DC/Maryland north is the Northeast with Virginia south the Southeast.
Delaware is not the south. Even though it was a border state like Maryland, it was still considered to be one of the original middle colonies or mid atlantic states, along with New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Maryland was a border southern state that had a lot in common with Virginia, culturally, but it relied on the north and the south, economically. Today, Maryland can best be classified as a mid atlantic state with southern roots.
I saw the "OLD Dixie " flag flying from private residences in southern Delaware along the shore, and some southern accents there too.
Maryland isn't the south anymore. Sure there's some southern culture at the border of VA, but it has the same grit and grind as NYC, NJ, Philly, Deleware, etc.
Thanks!
The more south you go, the more north you get. Florida is just retired New Yorkers. And Cubans.
and South Americans.
I was raised in PG county Maryland and would occasionally see family in southern VA. It's a complete culture shock from what I was accustomed to. Even going from DC to Bmore is drastically different.
Baltimore and D.C. are similar if you've hung out in both.
New Balance, similar slang etc.
D.C. is just more upkept and gentrified, but the factors most of you are typing don't define North or South especially in a modern world where robots and A.I. are becoming the now internationally.
You siced drastically different
Being born & raised in Kentucky, I've encountered several individuals, all of whom are from your home state of NC, who say Kentucky IS NOT a southern state. I had to point out that this state is the home of bluegrass, KFC, it was a slave state & the University of Kentucky is a part of the South Eastern Conference. Don't get me wrong, I kinda see what they may mean because the closer you get to Ohio, via Cincinnati, you see a shift in culture. That being said, I know folk both black & white that will throw hands if you say Kentucky isn't apart of the south.
Exactly!!! That really stuck a nerve in my body.
@@kilowhiskey7973 you feel me! Lol
As a Kentucky native, I would have told them to STFU because Kentucky is where the South begins and the people there are just as warm and welcoming as any other southern state. Not to mention Kentucky has a very southern culture and lifestyle.
As a fellow Kentuckian I don’t know why some people still don’t consider us “Southern” southern culture runs through our peoples veins.
I’m from the Carolinas and a lot of us where I’m from definitely consider Kentucky southern. At least myself and people I’ve spoken to. Were those who said that real Carolinians? (Born and raised)
Next time tell them kiss your secret recipe cuz you’re southern!! 🤠 Kentucky is favorite southern state to visit btw ❤
Maryland, Washington D.C. ain’t no damn south. I’m sorry.
Excellent video Mike, and well-thought out! Probably the single most southern staple I can think of is the food, although my state of TX has its own staple foods somewhat dissociated from the rest of the South -- the BBQ it has in common though chicken-fried steak and Tex-Mex are also essentials for Texas. I enjoy a combination of all of them though, that is when I'm not eating fish... lol.
I've just as often heard Texas referred to as part of the Southwest as I have the South though I can certainly understand the case for both. Once I heard Fort Worth described as the place where the West begins (referring to both the US as a whole and the state of Texas). I've also heard the case made that certain parts of west Texas (i.e. the Panhandle) as well as the neighboring state of Oklahoma actually fit more into the Plains and/or Midwest.
Texas though tends to have what I would call its own culture. It takes alot of aspects from the south the west and tmmexico to create what I consider a different culture
I disagree with what you said about Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma is similar to Texas in that we are our own thing, but Oklahoma is culturally very southern. The official "Oklahoma state meal" is made up of southern foods such as chicken fried steak, barbecue pork, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, grits, pecan pie, etc. Linguists consider the Okie accent as Southern American English, though we have a South Midlands accent that is closer to a Texan accent than an accent from one of the southeastern states. Oklahoma is also in the bible belt and religion is huge here, just as it is everywhere else in the south. Okies have a lot more in common with Texans and Arkansans, than with Kansans and other Midwesterners in my opinion.
What an awesome video. Great unbiased, neutral coverage of the history. Very informative.
Great video, with just one thing to point out:
Texas is not Hispanic mainly because of immigration, but due to its origins as a Mexican state. As our cousins say up there: We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us. 🤣
Misinformation. Mexico struggled to have their people settle Texas so the overwhelming majority of Hispanics are there due to immigration. Although I agree with that sentiment in California
Very true
That ones kinda meh. Yea It was part of Mexico for 15 years after getting grandfathered from Spain. But there was only few thousand Mexicans living up there. Which they got quickly outnumbered as soon as they allowed gringos to come in. I get what you saying but it wasn't like some vastly populated region with a lot of historical significance in pre Spanish Mexican history. Most of the Mexican population there today is due to immigration.
@@MissCleo24 yes many Mexican and Spanish settlers were afraid to settle in what was then Texas (i know that's not what you meant but it also applies) because they were vastly outnumbered by the Comanches/wichitas and other northern native American nations. Old historical Mexico never and i mean never had control or vast settlements in Texas or even most areas north of the Rio Grande. This image you're trying to portray of the fact that some Mexicans and natives share same similar skin tones and genetics does not mean they liked One another. Read up on the legendary Apache leader Geronimo. He literally hated Mexicans more than anything. Apache and Mexicans went to war like crazy and hated each others guts. Mexico had 100 peso bounties for Apache scalps. They even caught them and used them as slaves. In 1821 once Mexico got independence and inherited Texas only around 3500 Mexican settlers lived in the whole of Tejas, concentrated mostly in San Antonio and La Bahia. As soon as Mexico opened up immigration for Anglos, they were quickly outnumbered and Anglo Americans within 16 years declared Texan independence. Why because Mexico never really had a large foothold in the northern edges of what even today's modern Mexican border is. My argument isn't a anti Mexico, Pro US one. It's more the native nations around the southwest historically did not mix much with the heart of pre Spanish Mexico people's. Mexican empires of the past and Mexico's historic heartland was further south in central Mexico, not up north. The north didn't get settled until the Spanish came forced/encouraged settlement further north. Majority of the Mexican population into the southwest US occurred after US took over and they came for work and settled. Mexicans before or after the Spanish very sparsely ever ventured far north of modern borders.
Everything from South Carolina to California used to be hispanic (Mexico 🇲🇽) that's what the mexican/American war was fought over expanding territory.
Thank you sir, I incorporated your video in my homeschool lesson plan.
I grew up in southern Virginia and I moved to NYC. When I drive 100 miles south of NYC in rural Pennsylvania, the culture is basically the same of that of southern Virginia. Ironically rural Pennsylvania is way more “southern” and similar to the south culturally, socially and even politically than its northeastern counterparts, even though it is considered to be northeast and much closer to the northeastern metropolises.
I’m from PA and that’s the exact reason I say MD and VA aren’t southern. There’s almost no cultural difference between us and besides the weather it barely feels like I changed states when I go down there
I grew up in rural Southwestern PA, about 40 minutes from both the MD and WV state lines, only about 90 minutes from VA state line. I agree with you. You make some great points, and your analysis has been echoed by many others.
I live in Central PA, but I also lived in Charleston SC for a year. The Pennsyltucky behavior that you're talking about is in my view very distinctly different from the behavior of people in the actual South. I think it's a third thing. Fake south. Poser south.
Virginia is traditionally is southern state. It was the capital of the confederacy. It was as southern S Mississippi. I use to live in Va as a child and I can tell you it was very much southern in the 70s and before. But as time went on it has changed a lot. The demographic of Va has changed and you have a lot of Northerners who have moved there. It’s not the same as when I grew up. They even vote differently now. Accents have changed a lot. The culture has changed a lot. I’m speaking mostly of Northern Va.
@@japcar84what was the town name
I think what makes defining what the South is as a region is so difficult because many people, mainly Southerners, focus way too much on state lines, politics, urbanization, and slight cultural differences between Southern states. Many Southerners often view the South as too much of a monolith.
For example, just because Texas has more Southwestern and Hispanic influence than other places in the south doesn’t make it not Southern. The state historically has been settled by Southerners, seceded from the Union, and has always aligned itself with the South politically and socially. Everything east of San Antonio I would say is still comfortably southern, mainly because the culture of East Texas/the Texas Triangle is still influenced heavily by traditional Southern culture, despite Texas having a strong subculture of its own. Central Texas and West Texas along with the panhandle and the Rio Grande Valley are definitely not Southern, although they do have Southern influences. You can’t really define a region entirely based on state lines, and regional lines are often much blurrier than we think.
I also think a lot of people confuse the Deep South with the rest of the South. The Deep South (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) is a subregion WITHIN the broader Southern US. It’s not the South itself
Only South and West Texas are not Southern rest of Texas is sure more western influences than the rest of the South considering it's geography
Thank you!!!!! I been telling people that Maryland, Delaware, Florida and Texas are part of the south. Maryland and Delaware folks got country accents like my aunt who’s from Delaware.
Country =/= South
What do accents have to do with it? Southern Ohio is basically north Kentucky. That does not make Cleveland a southern city.
@@StevenHughes-hr5hp dude hush up. Maryland and Delaware are southern states. They’re below the Mason Dixon line. Stop being slow in the head Steven
Great channel Mike, the map diagrams are helpful.
being from Virginia specifically southwest Virginia, people think of Virginia and automatically think of Northern Virginia or NOVA, not even a thought about Richmond or Norfolk/Newport News areas which are very much southern, its very crazy to me. Also seeing West Virginia even considered southern is very interesting, but made more sense while you explained the criteria's.
Virginia is Southern
Richmond is not like the south sorry
just say you've never been there and move on 😂😂@@Classy4514
@@Classy4514 It was the capital of the Confederacy. It's in the South.
@@Classy4514 Richmond is definitely Southern.
Born and raised in MARYLAND(PG COUNTY to be exact) and growing up I've always been taught that central to southern Maryland is definitely the south!
MD is not the south. Not culturally and not geographically either. The south ends once you go north of Richmond, VA.
@@thedirtybubble9613 nah, Maryland is in the south…I’m from the 7-5 and my people been in MD for centuries. Rest y’all bammas come from Carolina somewhere trynna act like it’s “up north” smh
@@757CitiesReppa because you are up north. MD has more in common with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware than it does with the rest of the South. That's not a bad thing either. MD has a good education system and a good healthcare system.
@@thedirtybubble9613 i am not up north …what are you talking about? South Jersey yeah, maybe…the parts Maryland border Pennsylvania aren’t influential to Maryland. Like I said my family been in Maryland for centuries. Maryland is in the Mid Atlantic and belongs and IS in the same space as Virginia…didn’t say “the rest of the south”…because “the south” isn’t even similar to itself…and never has been.
@@thedirtybubble9613wrong
In my opinion, US Route 60 as the north-south divide. That said the north-south divide seems to continue pushing south especially by DC. It seems surprisingly accurate to what I wanted looking for some existing line. West Virginia is in my opinion, aligned with southern values but Appalachian as is western Maryland western Virginia and other areas.
Fun fact... look at all the major interstates of the US... going from west to east, all the interstates running north/south end in a "5"... i-5, i-15, i-25, i-35... starting in the south and moving north, all interstates running east/west end in a "0"... i-10, i-20, i-30, i-40...
Try a little higher, bud.
Great video!! Tons of cool
Facts. Excellent. Subscribed and shared!!
i remember this debate happening all the way back in the 1850s!
Help You remember !?!😭
The confusion is because people have a stereotype about the South and want it all to fit in their little perceived notion of what the South is supposed to be.
In reality, the South is a diverse region of varying cultures, geography, politics and demographics. The most populated region in the country.
For example…Texas, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas…all somewhat different, all in the South.
All hunt. All are mostly red territories. All, outside of Atlanta and Memphis, are white majority in the major cities. You find a lot more minority majority in the big Northern cities, man.
@contingencyibct3120 - It not being a fringe state is his point. You can see clear differences in those states despite all being considered southern.
@@TopBillinSports exactly. Asheville, NC and Key West, FL are both in the South.
It’s a diverse region, doesn’t all look the same.
It’s the only region where it’s expected to be one way culturally. Other regions can have multiple cultures and no one bats an eye. No one accuses Maine of not being the north east coast just because it’s not exactly like NY, NJ, and PA or no one says New Mexico isn’t the west just because it isn’t exactly like California, Oregon, and Washington but when it comes to the south, all of a sudden if the place isn’t full fledged ‘Howdy y’all’ culture, then all of a sudden “It’s not the south.” A gang of folks who aren’t from the south love giving their erroneous breakdowns about what constitutes the south. Even folks who haven’t stepped one foot in the south will often want to give their 2 cents about what they consider the south. Worse is when southerners want to go along with those absurd narratives.
Other southerners do this as well to major Southern cities such as, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Dallas and Houston.
Mike, if you taught history in high school everyone would get Straight A’s, cause your vids are so damn good! Thx!
Excellent research and narration. Great work!
As far as Texas goes, I believe that San Antonio is the last large city you hit going west before it's no longer the South. After that, you're in a part of the state that's uniquely Texan, then after that, you hit the Southwest.
Sam Antonio isn’t southern it is Mexican
This sounds like a solid thought, but being in the DFW I can tell you that Fort Worth should be the beginning of "The West". It's continued connection to the "Wild West", cattle, ranchers, and obviously the Stockyards, is where "The South" ends and "The West" begins. So maybe in connection with your thought, as well as several other comments here, Texas being so unique with State pride is the hub for the change between South, West, and Southwest. Loved this conversation.
West of 35 it starts to change, especially scenery wise
The scenery of San Antonio is green like the South but the Southwest is mountains and deserts like El Paso.
@@j.campbell8491 It has been awhile since I have been in the southern cities of Texas, but this past summer I drove across the plains of Texas. That is the West that I was talking about. Clearly there is a diagonal that goes from Northeast Texas down toward San Antonio that anything East of that is still "South". But from Central up to North Texas from about Fort Worth going West it becomes those plains of the "West" until Midland then you are in the "Southwest".
I think geography and climate has as much impact as anything. The portion of Oklahoma that is in the Ozarks is very southern cultured. OKC is more like NM and TX culture, and Tulsa tends more Midwest. These 3 climates are very different and play a big role.
Eh okc is its own thing. Southern Oklahoma feels much different than okc and Tulsa.
I’m from Louisiana, I don’t consider anything above North Carolina as the south. States above it have historical ties, true..but regionally
and culturally? ( in modern times ) It is not the south. Above North Carolina but below Pennsylvania is considered mid-Atlantic. Their culture is totally different from that of true southern states. Even their accents are not southern accents ( despite what a New Yorker would say ). You can be “country” and not be southern, there are rural parts of every state in this country. I’ve met country people in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Idaho, Montana, Washington state, Kentucky and the list can go on.
Well said. I’m from dat 337!
As someone who moved to the U.S I always saw the South being South of Maryland and east of New Mexico.
The South is probably the most clearly or consistently defined region of the country, after New England. The Midwest is easily the most contentious region to define, and the West arguably the most ambiguous.
That said, as a Southern man living in the Deep South, Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Kentucky clearly count. Parts of Missouri have solid claims, and I'm not dying on any hills for Maryland, DC, or Delaware.
Southern half of Missouri Below the Missouri river are southern 100 percent. The reason Missouri had a confederate government and soldiers was because the little dixie area of Missouri which was settled by Kentuckians, Tennesseans and Virginians.
Limiting it to state lines is tough, but I guess that's what we have subdivisions for (even though the official Census Bureau subdivisions also follow state lines.) I'd have to do more research into it, but I feel like we could make much more accurate subdivisions that don't adhere to state lines. Rough draft:
1. New England--mostly the same as it is now, but adding parts of upstate New York and subtracting a little bit of Connecticut.
2. NYC Metro: NYC, Long Island, and some of the surrounding parts of NY, CT, and NJ. Not as big as the Census Bureau believes it to be--their definition literally stretches clear into Pennsylvania, but I'm from northwestern NJ and I can assure you that this part of the state is about as Southern as it is New Yorker.
3. Great Lakes East: The rest of upstate New York and much of PA. Maybe a little bit of eastern OH as well, and probably the northern bit of WV.
4. Mid-Atlantic North: Southeastern PA (Philly metro), southern and western NJ, all of DE, MD, and DC, and a bit of WV and VA. These four sub-regions make up the Northeast.
5. Mid-Atlantic South: The rest of VA and WV along with NC and maybe the eastern bit of KY.
6. South Atlantic: SC, GA, eastern TN, and parts of northern FL (but not the Panhandle).
7. Caribbean EN: Central and most of southern FL, plus the USVI.
8. Caribbean ES: Miami area and Puerto Rico.
9. Deep South: FL Panhandle, AL, MS.
10. South Central East: LA, AR, and Eastern TX.
11. Mid-South: the remainder of TN and KY and parts of eastern MO and southern IL and IN. These seven sub-regions make up the South.
12. Great Lakes Central: The rest of OH, IN, and IL, plus MI's lower peninsula.
13. Great Lakes West: WI, most of MN, and MI's upper peninsula.
14. Great Plains East: IA, the rest of MO, the rest of MN, and eastern ND, SD, NE, and KS. These three subregions make up what's currently referred to as the Midwest, but for reasons you'll soon see is now going to be called the Mideast.
15. Great Plains West: Western KS, NE, SD, and ND and eastern MT.
16. South Central West: OK and the rest of TX.
17. Mountain North: The rest of MT, WY, and CO.
18. Mountain South: NM, most of Utah, and eastern AZ. These four subregions make up what will now be called the Midwest.
19. Southwest: Most of AZ and inland SoCal.
20. Nevada: This state is like 90% uninhabited desert and the rest is Las Vegas and Reno; they're clearly their own thing.
21. Mountain West: Northern Utah, Idaho, and eastern WA, OR, and NorCal.
22. Pacific Northwest: The rest of WA and OR and northern CA.
23. Bay Area: Most of the rest of NorCal including all of Silicon Valley.
24. Inland Empire: The rest of eastern CA.
25. South West Coast: Self-explanatory; this is LA and the surrounding counties.
26. Alaska: Honestly I could have moved the eastern arm to PNW but I figured best to just keep it together.
27. Pacific Islands: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and all of those islands that we're mostly just keeping for naval bases. These nine subregions make up the West.
@@CyberchaoXNorth Carolina is not mid Atlantic. How can you say east TN is south Atlantic and not us?
@@threefivesevenst Louis is southern?
The book "American Nations" by Colin Woodard has a good map of which regions of the country are Southern. There is also a distinct Appalachian culture that is similar, but not identical, to Southern.
Yes, considering WV as the South is wild to me. WV is wholly Appalachia.
Delaware and Maryland fought for the Union in the Civil War and I've always thought of them as Northern states - that's what I was taught in school when we did geography - and sometimes I hear them called Northeast or Mid-Atlantic in weather forecasts, but never Southeast.
The weather people don't know geography
Maryland definitely sent troops to support the confederacy. And JW Boothe, who assassinated President Lincoln, was a Marylander "avenging the confederacy" and was hidden by like-minded Marylanders for a little while.
Thank you for this posting and all your other videos. Lots of fun stuff.
I grew up in Richmond, VA but spent my adult working years in Washington D.C. TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Richmond is ''southern'' all the way but
Washington D.C. is definitely a northeast vibe. I draw the line around Fredericksburg, VA.
Mid Atlantic
I'd say Stafford, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania are the Grey Areas of VA. They're not Northern enough to be accepted by NOVA, but the rest of VA doesn't want it.
The dividing line between North and South is determined where the majority of social establishments switch from bars to churches. So Missouri is a split state.
I think that's a good definition. I also would disagree with the map in the video showing where the Bible Belt is. It should definitely go farther north in West Virginia. When you're in Fairmont, WV, you're definitely in the Bible Belt--there are billboards everywhere with religious messages. Go twenty miles north to Morgantown, WV, and you'll see nothing of the sort--but you will see an overwhelming number of bars.
Cool video. Really well thought out and simplified enough to give detail without derailing from the overall topic. NIce stuff!
From Atlanta? Traveled all over and I 100 agree with you on the east coast. Also south Florida while not as "southern" as the rest of the south still feels very much southern in its vibe. East texas is the south for sure. Oklahoma is questionable
The south starts in Richmond VA to me.
Charlottesville VA for me
Grew up in Louisville, KY. I was taught that Louisville was a southern city and Kentucky was a southern state. It confused me that ppl didn’t consider Kentucky southern because that’s what I was taught.
Louisville DEFINITELY has a Midwestern influence but I can’t see it as a full Midwestern city like some ppl who consider it to be apart of the region. I’ve visited multiple cities throughout the us (Macon, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Cinci, Indi). Imma say that I felt more familiarity in Macon and Nashville compared to Cincinnati.
its apart of the midsouth.
I grew up in Michigan and Tennessee.... once you get past indiana Kentucky is the beginning of the South... also halfway through the indiana the accents change and people start sounding southern.
with that being said its not deep south... deep south is... Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana..etc
As a Kentucky native, I think that Kentucky may not be the deep south, but it is where the south begins.
I grew up in the North and we consider KY to be southern.
Growing up in Oklahoma City, I always felt that the state tried to align itself more culturally with the "Western" image - cowboys, ranchers, rodeos, and such. We had the Cowboy Hall of Fame and our theme park was Frontier City. Having now lived in just about every corner of the state, I feel like Oklahoma is at the merge point of the Southwest, the Midwest, and the South.
I also grew up in OKC. We are very southern in culture. We are nothing like the southwest or the Midwest. That doesn’t even make sense to me. I have worked in phone customer service for 30 years and the cultures and attitudes are so completely different depending on the region. I definitely prefer clients from the south. My clients from TX, OK and AR are by far my favorite. So chill and relaxed. Louisiana is an exception. They’re kinda hateful. KC and STL are the absolute worst. Especially STL. I’ve never dealt with a ruder more nasty and hateful group of people in my life. My current group of clients are all southwest and Pacific Northwest (CA, AZ, UT, WA). They’re chill until either , A) there’s an issue and then they freak out or B) I tell them I’m in Oklahoma and all of a sudden they automatically hate me.
@@staceystitches I agree that culturally parts of Oklahoma, particularly in the SE, are more in line with the South. There is a reason that McAlester born Carl Albert was known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie." And our cuisine definitely has some Southern influence, especially things like okra and "chicken frying" everything. However, we also have our fair amount of Tex-Mex, which is definitely more Southwestern in culture, and our BBQ is more similar to Texas and KC styles than what you would find in Alabama or the Carolinas. And as I said in my initial post, our state is closely tied with Western imagery and cowboy culture. (When I say Western, I'm referring to cowboys and ranches, not West Coast culture, which is something completely different.) Almost every single major cattle trail ran through what is now Oklahoma. We historically have had and still have a bunch of rodeos. OSU's mascot is the Cowboys. Arguably, the most famous restaurant in the state is Cattleman's Steakhouse located in an area of OKC called Stockyard City. These are all items that are culturally "Southwestern" and "Western." They also bleed more into aspects of the Midwest. Every OU home game features the Sooner Schooner, which is a wagon that was used to settle the Midwest and West. That and the Sooner name, along with the phrase Boomer Sooner are associated with land runs, and while those are fairly unique to Oklahoma, they evoke more of the pioneers of the Midwest than the people of the South. Alongside our ranches we also have a lot of farms, and the style of farm here in Oklahoma is very much the type you find throughout the Midwest.
So as I said before, we are blend of all of the above.
Very Midwest is Oklahoma.. Oklahoma reminds me of like Idaho and Montana nothing like Georgia or Florida etc…
@@Rob_unouh no lol. Oklahoma seems to me like Mississippi, texas, Arkansas etc
@@kennypowers1945 lol he’ll nah it’s nothing like that just flat land and cows like Idaho and Montana
North, South, and the American puzzle! 🧩 Can you define the South? Join the conversation and share your take on the cultural confusion!
I am a Canadian. I thought I was confused, so it is comforting to see that Americans are confused too. My instinct says Maryland and definitely Delaware are northern. DC to me is in both worlds (sort of like how Ottawa in our country is on the border between French and English Canada). Texas I think of as the west (with New Mexico and such). Florida... Not sure where to place it, typical "southern", maybe.
Texas had a big slave port in Galveston, they purposely delayed telling their slaves they were free for 2 years past. They are Southern on the East side, western on the West. Split like Kentucky was.
The confusion stems from the use of geographic regions/directions for culture names. The south, the North, the midwest, east coast/west Coast, pacific Northwest, the northeast, ect.
As a Texan, I like to say that Texas is like a good Southern boy who moved out West for adventure, married a lovely Mexican girl and settled down. They now spend their days cooking recipes from both grandmothers' cookbooks!
I'd say that Texas is it's own thing; but is still like a close cousin to the South, with lots of Southern influence still readily apparent (especially the Eastern part of the state).
Southern Florida is mostly populated by a combination of retired New Yorkers (tired of the harsh winters) and Cuban and Haitian refugees. It's mostly the northern parts of Florida where the original Southern culture remains.
Much of the southern part of Florida was only settled in the years since WWII. Before that, lack of air conditioning and disease-bearing mosquitos made the area very hard to live in. Tourist resorts (drawing from North Eastern states) were the main driver of settlement in southern Florida. Later, the communist takeover of Cuba, and the collapse of the Haitian government, led to much more Hispanic/Caribbean influence.
I lived in Lexington, Kentucky for 6 years after having lived in Michigan and Missouri, so I felt like it was pretty southern. However, my Alabamian girlfriend insisted that Kentucky wasn't southern or was at least a fusion with the Midwest.
I will concede that the suburbs of Cincinnati are more like Ohio than Tennessee. I didn't go to Louisville much, so it may also be Midwestern given its location, but I don't know. However, you don't have to go far into the state to hear southern accents. I heard tons of people in Lexington with southern accents, and the only ones with distinctly Midwestern accents had moved or traveled there from Cincy (aside from my mom). Appalachian culture was emphasized to the point that on a social justice-themed poster in the University of Kentucky Disability Resource Center, "Appalachian students" were listed among other oppressed minorities. I rememeber seeing confederate flags around 10 years ago near Pleasureville, which is as far north as Louisville but in the countryside.
Having since moved to Huntsville, Alabama, there certainly are differences, but nothing makes Lexington feel Midwestern except for its proximity to Ohio (ew). Hell, they even have proximity to the Appalachians in common, though Huntsville is more in them while Lexington is just near them. Also, Alabama is hardly more religious than Kentucky, and the biggest denomination in both is Southern Baptist. Still, Lexington is denser than Huntsville, at least in the built-up areas. Huntsville has more recent, sprawling, Sun Belt-style development, which arguably makes it more Southern. Still, Lexington's big thing is horses, and the horse farms make it feel more pastoral, which I associate with the South most heavily, followed by the Great Plains and the Interior West.
All that being said, Alabama is more southern than Kentucky. However, parts of each state can easily go toe-to-toe in terms of Southern cred. Is that a good thing? Eh, that's not for me to say. Just don't be a purist.
Never knew until this year some people didn’t consider Ky southern lol, Lexington is a city and has a surprising amount of immigrants so it definitely is less southern feeling then the rest of the state. But you go 15mins outside of it or in Fayette county and it is distinctly southern.
Kentucky is most definitely the south.
Horses. KFC. Corvettes. Louisville slugger. Rum, Bourbon, Whiskey. Moonshiners. Hatfield - McCoy feuds. Colonial style houses. Bluegrass music origins. Coal mining culture. And tobacco farms.
Kentucky embodies all elements of a southern state and we helped create this culture associated with the “South”. Always have, and we always will.
The president of the confederacy was from Louisville and 90% of Kentucky soldiers fought for the south.
@luke2393 I imagine that any city of over 300,000 is gonna have some immigrants, especially with a major university. I hear that Houston is super diverse, as just one example.
@@kilowhiskey7973 Yeah, you added some things I should've thought of. Bluegrass is one of the most Southern music genres in existence. There's no other region it could be from.
@@meowtherainbowx4163 Agreed, it’s just not something you would expect from Ky or most states from the south.
It's interesting the various ideas on what the South is. When you look at states like Missouri and Kansas which aren't southern persay, but the dialect in KCMO area in North is far different than in St. Louis.
Kansas the closer you get to Oklahoma specifically Wichita the Southern accent as it's deemed begins to resurface.
I love in AZ. and it's interesting that once you cross into N.M. whether by I-40 or US60 a majority of the radio stations transition to the biblebelt or Christian/religious station.
My family comes from Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and and Texas mainly and the South is one of my favorite areas to visit not because of things to do but I love the overall atmosphere and I love nature
It's "per se," not "persay." It's Latin.
@@aLadNamedNathan thanks for the correction but really it's not that serious. Have a good day
The part of my family from Kansas definitely had more of a country accent. It was still way weaker than the part of my family from Arkansas, but cultures don’t have cut and dried lines. They have a gradient. Southern Missouri, I consider openly southern. It feels just like Arkansas when you’re in there.
@@dresweets7637 I'd hate to see how you sweep up at work.
*per se (a Latin phrase)
*Bible Belt
I think the south start south of the James River in Richmond Va. you’ll notice that accents start to change and more southern culture are more noticeable. I’ve even heard people in this area Chesterfield Co. / Tri-Cities refer to anything north of Richmond as Yankees.