On a recent scroll break, I came across a Facebook post arguing what states were considered Southern and what were not. I was shocked to learn that there was a significant population of people that did not consider Kentucky to be part of the South. This led me down a rabbit hole of other similar posts where individuals argued what states they did or did not categorize as Southern. Ultimately, I found that there is no definite criteria nor commonly accepted list of what were deemed “the Southern states.”
For example, if this distinction is characterized historically, the original Southern colonies only include Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. This has expanded to include Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Florida.
When it comes to declaring a clear outline of the American South, there are many definitions and criteria — geography, culture, politics and history — that can be taken into consideration, and no matter which is applied, there are caveats and exceptions to each rule.
States such as Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Virginia fall into an unclear territory of whether they are considered Southern.
While geographically Texas is one of the southernmost states, does it align most closely with Southern or Southwestern identity? Similarly, there is no argument as to whether Florida is physically a Southern state, however its low population of Florida born residents — 32.77% — raises questions regarding its cultural identity.
Kentucky is commonly accepted as the only Southern border state. While it falls north of the invisible line that many use to separate the North from the South, as someone who resided on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line for 18 years, I can affirm there are many cultural similarities between the two.
Personal identity plays a large role in these distinctions as well. While Southerners have a shared culture, even narrowing the lens to individual states is often too broad to fully encapsulate certain shared experiences and lifestyles. For example, my Southern experience growing up in west Tennessee was drastically different from someone who was raised in east Tennessee. While there may be some similarities, there are significant differences I have grown accustomed to in the past three years living in Alabama.
For example, there are specific cultural differences between those raised in southern Appalachia versus other areas outside of the mountain range. Not only are the geographical features different amongst the different landscapes, but there are historical differences as well due to the emphasis on different career fields. When considering music generated from the region, there are strong differences between “the Nashville sound,” Texas “outlaw country,” and folk country from the Appalachian region.
Additionally, there are small pockets within the South that many consider outliers. Atlanta’s status as a southern hub city is complex and often disputed due to its rapid population growth and drastic modernization. Like Atlanta, Huntsville has faced similar questioning as a result of its emphasis on technological advancements.
This begs the question, are these cities not culturally Southern, or do they represent characteristics of the historically coined term “the New South”?
While the historic reputation of conservative politics and lack of diversity represented within the South is changing, the definition and connotation of “Southern” has not caught up. To say that Atlanta is not Southern is to say that Atlanta does not fit the molded characteristics society has historically assigned to the South. Atlanta is Southern, and Atlanta is progressive. These characteristics can coexist.
There is no clear definition of the American South because it is changing. While there is still progress to be made and positive historic traditions to cling to, the South has continued to grow and change within even the last decade.
Even though the region is associated with conservative politics and often considered to operate at a slower pace, progress within this country — culturally, socially and technologically — is happening in the South as well. With these changes, our definitions and perceptions must change as well.
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