Why Americans are SO CONFUSED Over Which States are Southern | What is the South?
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Published 2023-12-21
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All Comments (21)
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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.
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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
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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.
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That map putting Delaware in the south is wild lol
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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.
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As someone from the South, when I went the DMV area, it definitely felt way more northern than southern
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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.
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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).
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The "boundaries" of any given region simply cannot follow state borders. Even the historical civil war line is no longer entirely defining.
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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.
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I live in CLT and grew up in the DMV, this was such a comprehensive, accurate and thoughtful video, great job.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This is an authoritative, fascinating, well-balanced channel with a great narrator.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Thank you for this posting and all your other videos. Lots of fun stuff.
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Great channel Mike, the map diagrams are helpful.
