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Modern definition The states in dark red are almost always included in modern day definitions of the South, while those in medium red are usually included. Maryland and Missouri are occasionally considered Southern, while Delaware is only rarely considered part of the South. Oklahoma is sometimes considered Southern because the area of Oklahoma, then known as Indian Territory, was allied with the Confederacy. West Virginia is considered Southern by many, because it was once part of Virginia. David Williamson. UNC-CH surveys reveal where the ‘real’ South lies. Retrieved on 22 Feb, 2007.
The South as one of four regions of the United States.
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region\'s unique cultural and historic heritage, including early European colonial settlements, the doctrine of states\' rights, the institution of slavery and the legacy of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, the South has developed its own customs, literature, musical styles, and varied cuisines.In the last few decades, the South has become more industrial and urban than in the past. Some parts of the South are among the fastest-growing areas in the country.
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As defined by the United States Census Bureau,http://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf US Census Bureau\'s official map the Southern region of the United States includes 16 states and the District of Columbia (with a total 2006 estimated population of 109,083,752, and 36% of all U.S. residents lived in the South, the nation\'s most populous region) and is split into three smaller units, or divisions:
Other definitions include:
The popular definition of the "South" is more informal and is generally associated with those states that seceded during the Civil War to form the Confederate States of America. Those states share commonalities of history and culture that carry on to the present day. The "border states" of the Civil War- specifically Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware roughly form the northern boundary of the "South". These states have a history of straddling the North-South divide, which was made clear when they did not secede during the Civil War even though they allowed slavery. Depending on the context, these states may or may not be considered part of the South. West Virginia is a unique case. Although West Virginia gave half its soldiers "Although early estimates noted that Union soldiers from the region outnumbered Confederates by more than three to one, more recent and detailed studies have concluded that there were nearly equal numbers of Union and Confederate soldiers." http://www.wvculture.org/HiStory/civwaran.html and nearly two-thirds of its territoryRichard O. Curry "A House Divided", Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1964, pg. 49, map of Secessionist counties from vote of May 23, 1861 to the Confederacy, early Union victories in the state and Union victory in the war insured that the history of the state would be written from the perspective of Wheeling rather than Richmond. This perspective is often responsible for the exclusion of West Virginia from many things Southern. Whether it is culturally part of the South again depends on context and on what distinction is drawn between Appalachian and Southern culture and an understanding of West Virginia\'s history.
Biologically, the South is a vast, diverse region, having numerous climatic zones, including temperate, sub-tropical, tropical, and arid. Many crops grow easily in its soils and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some parts of the South, particularly the Southeast, have landscapes characterized by the presence of live oaks, magnolia trees, yellow jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods. Another common environment is the bayous and swampland of the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana. The South is a victim of kudzu, an invasive fast-growing vine which covers large amounts of land and kills indigenous plant life. Kudzu is a particularly big problem in Maryland, Virginia, eastern Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Georgia.[citation needed]
The first well-dated evidence of human occupation in the south United States occurs around 9500 BCE with the appearance of the earliest documented Americans, who are now referred to as Paleoindians. Prentice, Guy. NATIVE AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY AND CULTURE HISTORY. Retrieved on 11 February, 2008. Paleoindians were hunter-gathers that roamed in bands and frequently hunted megafauna. Several stages, such as Archaic (ca. 8000 -1000 BCE) and the Woodland (ca. 1000 BCE-CE 1000), pasted into what the Europeans found at the end of the 15th century-- the Mississippian culture.
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE. Some noted explorers who found the Mississippian culture, which was in decline, include Pánfilo de Narváez (1528), Hernando de Soto (1540), and Pierre Le Moyne d\'Iberville (1699). Some descendants of the mound-builders include Alabama, Apalachee, Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Guale, Hitchiti, Houma, and Seminole, many of whom still reside in the South.
The predominant culture of the South has its origins with the settlement of the region by British colonists. In the seventeenth century, most were of English origins who settled mostly on the coastal regions of the South, but in the 18th century, large groups of Scots and Ulster-Scots (later called the Scots-Irish) settled in Appalachia and the Piedmont. In a census taken in 2000 of Americans and their self-reported ancestries, areas where people reported \'American\' ancestry were the places where, historically, many Scottish and Scots-Irish Protestants as well as many English settlers settled in America: the interior as well as some of the coastal areas of the South, and the Appalachian region. It is believed the number of Scottish Americans could be in the region of 20 million and Scots-Irish Americans at 27 million. These people engaged in warfare, trade, and cultural exchanges with the Native Americans already in the region (such as the Creek Indians, Cherokee, and Choctaws). After 1700, large groups of African slaves were brought in to work on the large plantations that dominated export agriculture, growing tobacco, rice, and indigo. Cotton became dominant after 1800. The explosion of cotton cultivationThe Peculiar Institution of American Slavery. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006. made the "peculiar institution" of slavery an integral part of the South\'s early 19th century economy.
The oldest university in the South, the College of William and Mary, was founded in 1693 in Virginia; it pioneered in the teaching of political economy and educated future U.S. Presidents Jefferson, Monroe and Tyler, all from Virginia. Indeed, the entire region dominated politics in the First Party System era: for example, four of the first five Presidents— Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe—were from Virginia. The two oldest public universities to open their doors to students are in the South - the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Georgia, respectively.
Two major political issues that festered in the first half of the 19th century caused political alignment along sectional lines, strengthened the identities of North and South as distinct regions with certain strongly opposed interests and fed the arguments over states\' rights that culminated in secession and the Civil War. One of these issues concerned the protective tariffs enacted to assist the growth of the manufacturing sector, primarily in the North. In 1832, in resistance to federal legislation increasing tariffs, South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure in which a state would in effect repeal a Federal law. Soon a naval flotilla was sent to Charleston harbor, and the threat of landing ground troops was used to compel the collection of tariffs. A compromise was reached by which the tariffs would be gradually reduced, but the underlying argument over states\' rights continued to escalate in the following decades.
The second issue concerned slavery, primarily the question of whether slavery would be permitted in newly admitted states. The issue was initially finessed by political compromises designed to balance the number of "free" and "slave" states. The issue resurfaced in more virulent form, however, around the time of the Mexican War, which raised the stakes by adding new territories primarily on the Southern side of the imaginary geographic divide.
By 1855, the South was losing political power to the more populous North and was locked in a series of constitutional and political battles with the North regarding states\' rights and the status of slavery in the territories. President James K. Polk imposed a low-tariff regime on the country (Walker Tariff of 1846), which angered Pennsylvania industrialists, and blocked proposed federal funding of national roads and port improvements. Once the North came to power in 1861, many Southerners felt it was time to secede from the union.
Seven cotton states decided on secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. They formed the Confederate States of America. In 1861, they were joined by four more states. The United States government refused to recognize the seceding states as a new country and kept in operation its second to last fort in the South, which the Confederacy captured in April 1861 at the Battle of Fort Sumter, in the port of Charleston, triggering the Civil War. In the four years of war which followed, the South found itself as the primary battleground, with all but two of the main battles taking place on Southern soil. The Confederacy retained a low tariff regime for European imports but imposed a new tax on all imports from the North. The Union blockade stopped most commerce from entering the South, so the Confederate taxes hardly mattered. The Southern transportation system depended primarily on river and coastal traffic by boat; both were shut down by the Union Navy. The small railroad system virtually collapsed, so that by 1864 internal travel was so difficult that the Confederate economy was crippled.
The Union (so-called because they fought for the United States of America) eventually defeated the Confederate States of America (the formal name of the southern American states during the Civil War). The South suffered much more than the North, primarily because the war was fought almost entirely in the South. Overall, the Confederacy suffered 95,000 killed in action and 165,000 who died of disease, for a total of 260,000,Nineteenth Century Death Tolls: American Civil War. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006. out of a total white Southern population at the time of around 5.5 million.American Civil War, Those Confederate States Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South.The Deadliest War Northern casualties exceeded Southern casualties, however.
After the Civil War, the South was largely devastated in terms of its population, infrastructure and economy. The republic also found itself under Reconstruction, with military troops in direct political control of the South. Many white Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy lost many of the basic rights of citizenship (such as the ability to vote) while with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which outlawed slavery), the 14th Amendment (which granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans) and the 15th amendment (which extended the right to vote to African American males), African Americans in the South began to enjoy more rights than they had ever had in the region.
Northern Carpetbaggers came south to participate in politics and business. Some were representatives of the Freedmen\'s Bureau and other agencies of Reconstruction; some were humanitarians with the intent to help black people; yet some were adventurers who hoped to benefit themselves by questionable methods.[2]
By the 1890s, though, a political backlash against these rights had developed in the South. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan—a clandestine organization sworn to perpetuate white supremacy—used lynching, and other forms of violence and intimidation to keep African Americans from exercising their political rights (the well-known cross burnings did not become a Klan ritual until the emergence of the Second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s), while the Jim Crow laws were created to legally do the same thing. It would not be until the late 1960s that these changes would be undone by the American Civil Rights Movement.
The first major oil well in the South was drilled at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas, on the morning of January 10, 1901. Other oil fields were later discovered nearby in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting “Oil Boom” permanently transformed the economy of the West South Central states and led to the first significant economic expansion after the Civil War.
The economy, which for the most part had still not recovered from the Civil War, was dealt a double blow by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the economy suffered significant reversals and millions were left unemployed. Beginning in 1934 and lasting until 1939, an ecological disaster of severe wind and drought caused an exodus from Texas and Arkansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle region and the surrounding plains, in which over 500,000 Americans were homeless, hungry and jobless.First Measured Century: Interview: James Gregory. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006. Thousands left the region forever to seek economic opportunities along the West Coast.
Nearly all Southerners, black and white, suffered as a result of the Civil War. With the region devastated by its loss and the destruction of its civil infrastructure, much of the South was generally unable to recover economically until after World War II. The South was noted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the "number one priority" in terms of need of assistance during the Great Depression, instituting programs such as the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Locked into low productivity agriculture, the region\'s growth was slowed by limited industrial development, low levels of entrepreneurship, and the lack of capital investment.
World War II marked a time of change in the South as new industries and military bases sprang up across many areas of the region providing badly need capital and infrastructure. People from all parts of the US came to the South for military training and work in the regions many bases and new industries. Farming shifted from cotton and tobacco to include soybeans, corn, and other foods. This growth increased in the 1960 and greatly accelerated into the 80\'s and 90\'s. Large urban areas with over 4 million people rose in Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Rapid expansion in industries such as autos, telecommunications, textiles, technology, banking, and aviation gave some states in the South an industrial strength to rival large states elsewhere in the country. By the 2000 census, The South (along with the West) was leading the nation in population growth. However, with this growth came long commute times and serious air pollution problems in cities such as Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Charlotte, and other cities.
States in maroon have an average household income of less than $35,000.00 per year. States in red have average household incomes between $35,000.00-$40,000.00. States in yellow have household incomes between $40,000-$45,000.00. States in teal have household incomes between $50,000.00-$55,000.00 per year. Maryland is the only southern state with an average household income exceeding $55,000.00 per year.
The South has historically been financially disadvantaged when compared to the United States as a whole. After the Civil War, nearly the entire economic infrastructure of the region was in ruins. As agriculture had been the foundation of the Southern economy at the time, with the passing of the 13th Amendment (which outlawed slavery), planted resources could not be farmed and harvested as efficiently, eventually sending many plantation owners region-wide into poverty. Additionally, since there were few industrial businesses located in the south at the time, there were not many other possible sources of income.
Former slaves were also a victim to this as they had no training or experience in anything besides plantation agriculture, and non-agricultural work was scarce.
After World War II, the development of the Interstate Highway System, household air conditioning and later, passage of civil rights bills the south was successful at attracting industry and business from other parts of the country, particularly the Rust Belt region of the Northeast and the Great Lakes. Poverty rates and unemployment declined as a result. Federal programs such as the Appalachian Regional Commission also contributed to economic growth.
While much of the Southern United States has advanced considerably since World War II, poverty still persists today in some areas. Areas like the Black Belt, the eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia areas in Appalachia, and the Mexican border area along the Rio Grande in Texas make up the brunt of poverty in the South today.
Of all the regions of the United States the South is most distinct, in both the minds of its residents and those in other parts of the country. Depending on one\'s attitude, and perhaps latitude, the South and the "idea" of the South is and/or has been feared, revered, hated, loved, and stereotyped, for better or worse. It is disdained by some, yet an object of intense attachment and loyalty for others. And these emotions are not necessarily aligned with the one Mason and Dixon surveyed. Some born in the South shun their history and heritage, while there are many transplanted northerners who will frankly state they would never, ever, return to the colder climes (both literally and metaphorically), from which they came.[citation needed]
All in all though, the South exists with a certain separateness from the rest of the country. Perhaps it might be summed up well by certain passages in Tim Jacobson\'s book "Heritage of the South." Jacobson wrote:
"More than any other part of America, the South stands apart...Thousands of Northerners and foreigners have migrated to it...but Southerners they will not become. For this is still a place where you must have either been born or have "people" there, to feel it is your native ground.
Natives will tell you this. They are proud to be Americans, but they are also proud to be Virginians, South Carolinians, Tennesseans, and Texans. But they are conscious of another loyalty too, one that transcends the usual ties of national patriotism and state pride. It is a loyalty to a place where habits are strong and memories are long. If those memories could speak, they would tell stories of a region powerfully shaped by its history and determined to pass it on to future generations.
Southern culture has been and remains generally more socially conservative than that of the rest of the country. Because of the central role of agriculture in the antebellum economy, society remained stratified according to land ownership. Rural communities often developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.
The southern lifestyle, especially in the deep south, is often joked about. Southerners are often generally viewed as more laid back, and relaxed even in stressed situations. That, of course, is a stereotype, and not always the case. But, traditionally, the southern lifestyle is viewed as slower paced when in more rural areas. Southerners are also stereotyped as being resistant to change, especially in societal circles, and mannerisms. Southerners are also reputed to be very polite and well-mannered and particularly welcoming to visitors; this characteristic has been labeled Southern hospitality.
Until the mid 19th century traditional Southerners were either Episcopalian or Presbyterian due to the South\'s close ancestral ties to England, Scotland and the Irish province of Ulster. Around the beginning of the Civil War and from thereafter, Baptist and Methodist churches became the most prevalent forms of Christianity in the region. Perhaps more than any other region of an industrialized nation, the South has a high concentration of Christian adherents, resulting in the reference to parts of the South as the "Bible Belt", from the presence of Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestants, conservative Catholicism, as well as Pentacostalism and Charismatics.
There are significant Catholic populations in most cities in the South, such as, Atlanta, Miami, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, Baltimore,Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Louisville.[citation needed] Rural areas of the Gulf coast, particularly those populated by Creoles, French, Native Americans, Italians, and Cajuns, are also heavily Catholic.[citation needed] In general, the inland regions of the South such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama have stronger concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, and other Protestants.[citation needed] Eastern and northern Texas are heavily Protestant, while the southern parts of the state have Mexican American Catholic majorities.[citation needed] The South Florida area is home to the country\'s second largest concentration of Jewish people. The city of Charleston is also home to a large Jewish population which has figured prominently in the history of South Carolina. Cities such as Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston have significant Jewish and Muslim communities. Immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia have brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the region as well. Nashville has one of the largest Kurd populations outside of the Middle East.
It has been said that Southerners are most easily distinguished from other Americans by their speech, both in terms of accent and idiom. However, there is no single "Southern Accent." Rather, Southern American English is a collection of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects, with speech differing between, for example, the Appalachian region and the coastal "low country" around Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. Along this part of the southeastern coast Gullah is still spoken by some African Americans, particularly the older generation. The South Midlands dialect was influenced by the migration of Southern dialect speakers into the American West. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English, shares many similarities with Southern dialect. Folklorists in the 1920s and later argued that Appalachian language patterns more closely mirror Elizabethan English than other accents in the United States.Wilson, Charles Morrow. “Elizabethan America.” Atlantic Monthly, August 1929, 238—44. Reprinted in Appalachian Images in Folk and Popular Culture, ed. W. K. McNeil, 205—14. 1989.
The US South also contains many indigenous languages from the Muskogean, Caddoan, Siouan-Catawban, Iroquoian, Algonquian, Yuchi, Chitimacha, Natchez, Tunica, Adai, Timucua, and Atakapa families. The historical record seems to suggest a picture of great linguistic diversity (similar to California) although most languages mentioned were not documented. Several southeastern languages have become extinct and all are endangered. Historical language contact has developed into a southeastern Sprachbund. The influence of native languages has led to distinct Indian varieties of English.
Other distinct languages include Cajun French (Louisiana), Gullah (South Carolina, Georgia), and Isleño Spanish (Louisiana, see also Canarian Spanish).
In addition to linguistics, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. But just as history and culture varies across the broad region known as the South, the traditional cuisine varies as well. In modern times, there is little difference between the diet of typical Southerners and the diet in other regions of the U.S, but the South draws on multiple unique culinary influences to form its "traditional" foods. "Southern Cuisine" also provides some of the best examples of distinctly American cuisine - that is, foods and styles that were born in the United States as opposed to adopted from elsewhere.
The food most commonly associated with the term "Southern Food" is often called "soul food" and is characterized by the heavy use of high-calorie lards and fats. This style is often attributed to influence of the African-American slave population though it draws the mix of African influences as well as Native American, Scots-Irish, and others. Southern fried chicken, vegetables cooked in lard or fat, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and biscuits are just a few examples of foods typically lumped into this broad category.
Barbecue is a food typically associated with the South, however it should be noted that it is also heavily favored and common throughout the Midwest too. Consisting of meat that has been slow-cooked and heavily seasoned, it is characterized by sharp regional divides in style-preferences. In Texas it is often beef based, while in North Carolina it is typically pork based and further subdivided into Eastern (vinegar-based) and Western Carolina (ketchup-based) styles. South Carolina also has a distinct mustard-based sauce that is unique to the midlands area. Kansas City, Missouri and Memphis are also considered Barbecue hubs, drawing on styles from multiple areas. Western Kentucky is also known for its barbecue, with Owensboro hosting the International Bar-B-Q Festival the second weekend of May.
The unique history of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta provides a unique culinary environment as well. Creole and Cajun have evolved from the broad mix of cultural influences in this area - including ,French, Spanish, African, Native American, Caribbean, and Acadian.
Texas and its proximity and shared history with Mexico ultimately helped give rise to the modern Tex-Mex cuisine.
As with most of America, a wide variety of cuisines of other origins are now available throughout the South, such as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, Thai, Japanese, and Indian as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, and so-called "home cooking" establishments.
Many of the most popular American soft drinks today originated in the South (Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Royal Crown Cola and its related Nehi products and Dr Pepper). In addition, there are some soft drinks available only in the South to this day (such as Sundrop and Cheerwine), demonstrating its instrumental history in developing these types of drinks. A highly sweetened iced tea, typically called sweet tea is also associated with Southern cuisine. Lemonade is also a popular summer beverage. Dr. Enuf is also a regional favorite and is not widely available elsewhere. Bottled in Johnson City, TN, the beverage has been around since 1949 and is considered to be an acquired taste.
The South has long had an ambivalent attitude toward alcoholic beverages. Widespread support for Prohibition existed in the Southern states before and after the 18th Amendment was in force in the USA. Many southern states are control states that monopolize and highly regulate the distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks. Many counties in the South, particularly outside of larger metropolitan areas, are dry counties that do not allow for alcohol sales in retail outlets. However, many dry counties still allow for "private clubs" (often with low daily fees) to serve alcohol on the premises. Beer is still widely popular in the South, though its consumption is often frowned upon in some religious circles. The most popular beers in the south are those produced by Anheuser Busch particularly Budweiser and Busch. Cartersville, a suburb of Atlanta, has a massive production facility for Anheuser Busch.
The upper South, specifically Kentucky, is known for its production of bourbon whiskey, Jim Beam which is also a popular base for cocktails. Kentucky is attributed with producing 95% of the world\'s bourbon,[citation needed] which is sometime\'s referred to as America\'s only native spirit. Jack Daniels is also produced in the South, in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Due to widespread restrictions on alcohol production, illegally distilled liquor or Moonshine has long been associated (often rather stereotypically) with working class and poor people in much of the region. The Mint julep is similarly depicted as a popular beverage among more affluent Southerners.
The South was distinctive for its production of tobacco, which earned premium prices from around the world. Most farmers grew a little for their own use or traded with neighbors who grew it. It was the main cash crop in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland. Pennsylvania and Delaware also grew tobacco, but to a lesser extent. Commercial sales became important in the late 19th century as major tobacco companies rose in the South, becoming one the largest employers in cities like Durham, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, and Richmond, Virginia. In 1938, R. J. Reynolds marketed eighty-four brands of chewing tobacco, twelve brands of smoking tobacco, and the top-selling Camel brand of cigarettes. Reynolds sold large quantities of chewing tobacco, though that market peaked about 1910 as people shifted to cigarettes.Nannie M. Tilley (1985). The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 363. ISBN 0-8078-1642-6.
In the late 20th century, use of smokeless tobacco by adolescent American males increased by 450% for chewing tobacco and by 1500%, or fifteenfold, for snuff. From 1978 to 1984, there was a 15% compound annual growth rate in U.S. smokeless tobacco sales. Usage is highest in the South and in the rural west. In 1992, 30% of all male high school seniors in the southeastern United States were regular users of chewing tobacco or snuff—more than smoked cigarettes, according to the Center for Disease Control.Centers for Disease Control (1987). Smokeless Tobacco Use in the United States. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006.David Moyer, MD (2000). The Tobacco Reference Guide: Smokeless Tobacco. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006.
A historian of the American South in the late 1860s reported on typical usage in the region where it was grown, paying close attention to class and gender:Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer (1917). A History of the United States since the Civil War v. 1. Negro University Press, 93. ISBN 0-8371-2642-8.The chewing of tobacco was well-nigh universal. This habit had been widespread among the agricultural population of America both North and South before the war. Soldiers had found the quid a solace in the field and continued to revolve it in their mouths upon returning to their homes. Out of doors where his life was principally led the chewer spat upon his lands without offence to other men, and his homes and public buildings were supplied with spittoons. Brown and yellow parabolas were projected to right and left toward these receivers, but very often without the careful aim which made for cleanly living. Even the pews of fashionable churches were likely to contain these familiar conveniences. The large numbers of Southern men, and these were of the better class (officers in the Confederate army and planters, worth $20,000 or more, and barred from general amnesty) who presented themselves for the pardon of President Johnson, while they sat awaiting his pleasure in the ante-room at the White House, covered its floor with pools and rivulets of their spittle. An observant traveller in the South in 1865 said that in his belief seven-tenths of all persons above the age of twelve years, both male and female, used tobacco in some form. Women could be seen at the doors of their cabins in their bare feet, in their dirty one-piece cotton garments, their chairs tipped back, smoking pipes made of corn cobs into which were fitted reed stems or goose quills. Boys of eight or nine years of age and half-grown girls smoked. Women and girls "dipped" in their houses, on their porches, in the public parlors of hotels and in the streets.
Perhaps the most famous southern writer is William Faulkner, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to American writings (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).
Other well-known Southern writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Thomas Wolfe, William Styron, Flannery O\'Connor, Carson McCullers, James Dickey, Willie Morris, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Walker Percy, Barry Hannah, Robert Penn Warren, Cormac McCarthy, John Grisham, James Agee and Harry Crews.
Possibly the most famous southern novel of the 20th century is Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published in 1937. Another famous southern novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, won the Pulitzer Prize after it was published in 1960.
The South offers some of the richest music in the United States. The musical heritage of the South was developed by both whites and blacks, both influencing each other directly and indirectly.
The South\'s musical history actually starts before the Civil War, with the songs of the African slaves and the traditional folk music brought from the British Isles. Blues was developed in the rural South by Blacks at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music, spirituals, country music, rhythm and blues, soul music, funk, rock and roll, beach music, bluegrass, jazz (including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin), and Appalachian folk music were either born in the South or developed in the region.
In general, country music is based on the folk music of white Southerners, and blues and rhythm and blues is based on black southern forms. However, whites and blacks alike have contributed to each of these genres, and there is a considerable overlap between the traditional music of blacks and whites in the South, particularly in gospel music forms. A stylish variant of country music (predominantly produced in Nashville) has been a consistent, widespread fixture of American pop since the 1950s, while insurgent forms (i.e. bluegrass) have traditionally appealed to more discerning sub-cultural and rural audiences. Blues dominated the Black music charts from the advent of modern recording until the mid-1950s, when it was supplanted by the less guttural and forlorn sounds of rock and R&B. Nevertheless, unadulterated blues (along with early rock and roll) is still the subject of reverential adoration throughout much of Europe and cult popularity in isolated pockets of the United States.
Zydeco, Cajun, and swamp pop, despite having never enjoyed greater regional or mainstream popularity, still thrive throughout French Louisiana and its peripheries, such as Southeastern Texas. These unique Louisianan styles of folk music are celebrated as part of the traditional heritage of the people of Louisiana. Conversely, bluegrass music has acquired a sophisticated cachet and distinct identity from mainstream country music through the fusion recordings of artists like Bela Fleck, David Grisman, and the New Grass Revival; traditional bluegrass and Appalachian mountain music experienced a strong resurgence after the release of 2001\'s O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Rock n\' roll largely began in the South in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Early rock n\' roll musicians from the South include Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, James Brown, Otis Redding, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, among many others. Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, while generally regarded as "country" singers, also had a significant role in the development of rock music. In the 1960s, Stax Records emerged as a leading competitor of Motown Records, laying the groundwork for later stylistic innovations in the process.
The South has continued to produce rock music in later decades. In the 1970s, a wave of "Southern rock” and blues rock groups, led by The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and 38 Special, became popular. Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records helped to spearhead the Southern rock movement, and was the original home to many of the genre\'s most famous groups. At the other end of the spectrum, along with the aforementioned Brown and Stax, New Orleans\' Allen Toussaint and The Meters helped to define the funk subgenre of rhythm and blues in the 1970s.
Many who got their start in the regional show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream national and international success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton are two such examples of artists that have transcended genres.
Many of the roots of alternative rock are often considered to come from the South as well, with bands such as R.E.M., Pylon, and The B-52\'s forever associated with the musically fertile college town of Athens, Georgia. Cities such as Austin, Knoxville, Chapel Hill, Nashville, and Atlanta also have thriving Indie-Rock and live music scenes. Austin is home to the long-running South by Southwest music and arts festival, while several influential independent music labels (Sugar Hill, Merge, Yep Rock and the now-defunct Mammoth Records) were founded in the Chapel Hill area. Several influential death metal bands have recorded albums at Morrisound Recording in Temple Terrace, Florida and the studio is considered an important touchstone in the genre\'s development.
There is a large underground heavy metal scene in the Southern United States. Death Metal can trace some of it\'s origins to Tampa, Florida. Bands such as Deicide, Morbid Angel, Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse among others have come out of this scene. Non-death metal bands from the south include Crowbar, Eyehategod, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Hellyeah, Pantera and many other bands. Other well known metal bands from the south include Lamb of God (band) and Mastodon. This has helped coined the term southern metal which is well received in the vast majority in metal circles around the world.
Recently, the spread of rap music (which is arguably the only major American music not started in the South) has led to the rise of the sub-genre Dirty South. Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Miami, and New Orleans have long been major centers of hip-hop culture
Also, an electronic music sub-genre known as Drum and Bass that has thrived on the East Coast has gained a recent popularity in the south, mixing with various southern Jungle, Hip-Hop and Breakbeat scenes. Notable bands and artists are Evol Intent and Gridlok.
While the South has had a number of professional football teams appear in the Super Bowl, it is much more renowned for its love of College football. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 are the conferences in which the majority of large southern public universities play. The University of Alabama is tied with Notre Dame for the most (12) national football championships, and the University of Oklahoma has the highest college football winning percentage since 1936, when the AP poll was implemented. It also features very fierce, deep-seated rivalries like the Iron Bowl played annually between Auburn University and the University of Alabama near the end of every November.
High school football is extremely competitive in the region. Texas high school football culture has been featured in movies and books such as Friday Night Lights and Varsity Blues; Virginia football was featured in the movie Remember the Titans; and Alabama football was featured in the documentary Two-A-Days
Basketball, particularly college basketball, is also very popular in the South, especially in North Carolina and Kentucky; the two states are home to four of the winningest and most NCAA tournament included programs in college basketball history: the North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats,and the Louisville Cardinals.Men\'s College Basketball Almanac. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.. [http://www.basketball.com/menscollege/records/NCAADiv1TournApps.shtml Men\'s College Basketball Almanac NCAA Appearances. The N.C. State Wolfpack and the Arkansas Razorbacks also have had considerable basketball success. Although many may think that the University of Alabama is just a football related school they have also made many SEC championship appearances.
The south\'s largest state, Texas, is also home to three of the best teams in the NBA: The San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, and the Dallas Mavericks.]. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
Baseball\'s popularity is often tied to Major League Baseball teams like the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins. Roughly half of the Major League Baseball franchises hold spring training in Florida, playing their preseason games in what is known as the "Grapefruit League". Minor league baseball is also closely followed in the South (with the South being home to more minor league teams than any other region of the United States), and college baseball is particularly popular in the southernmost tier of states, with many successful programs including Tulane University, Rice University, South Carolina Gamecocks, Clemson Tigers, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Florida State Seminoles, Louisiana State University Tigers and Miami Hurricanes, among others.
The South is the birthplace of NASCAR auto racing, which has an enormous and devoted following. The organization is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, the vast majority of teams center their operations in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina, and the majority of NASCAR drivers have historically come from the South. The NASCAR Sprint Cup season starts each year in Daytona Beach with the Daytona 500, and the series\' fastest track is Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Talladega, Alabama is home to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The South would not seem to be a prominent winter-sports destination, but the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes have all won the National Hockey League\'s Stanley Cup in recent years. In addition, the mountains of West Virginia and the western parts of Virginia and North Carolina have climates cold enough to host several popular downhill skiing resorts. Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Lacrosse is also growing in the South. High School participation has increased dramatically and colleges are beginning to add Varsity programs. High Schools from Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida can compete with teams from the traditional East Coast hotbeds.[citation needed] Horse racing is an important part of Southern culture. The world-famous Kentucky Derby is held in Louisville, Kentucky while the steeplechase capital of the world is Camden, South Carolina.[citation needed]
Many rural and some suburban Southerners view hunting and fishing as a way of life; deer and duck hunting and bass fishing are of particular social and economic importance. Squirrels and birds such as quail and dove are also hunted. The prevalence of gun ownership among many Southerners is closely tied to these traditions, and gun control measures often encounter vehement opposition in the South in part due to this cultural heritage.
The South has contributed to some of the most financially successful movies of all time, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Georgia is also a huge location for film production. The second largest studio complex in the United States, EUE Screen Gems, is located in Wilmington, North Carolina. Over the past 20 years, many films and television programs have been made on location in eastern North Carolina.IMDB. Titles with locations including Wilmington, NC. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006.
Many films have also used New Orleans, Louisiana as a location such as The Big Easy, Interview With The Vampire and A Streetcar Named Desire.
A number of film festivals - notably the South by Southwest music and arts festival in Austin and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, based in Durham, NC, are held within the region.
There continues to be debate about what constitutes the basics elements of Southern culture.Jason Sanford. Where is the South in today\'s Southern literature. Retrieved on 22 Aug, 2006. This debate is influenced partly because the South is such a large region. As a result, there are a number of cultural variations on display in the region.
Among the variations found in Southern culture are:
Plurality ancestry per US county, 2000: German English Norwegian Finnish Dutch Mexican Spanish Native "American" African Irish French Italian
