Culture of the Southern United States: Difference between revisions

The Culture of the Southern United States or Southern Culture is a subculture of the United States. American culture, in general, is largely based on Western and British culture, with influences from native Americans, African Americans, and numerous immigrant groups. The culture of the South adds to this by mixing in a heavy amount of rural Scot-Irish culture, along with that of the African-American descendants of their former slaves, and unique historical issues such as slavery and segregation. The South hosts a vibrant African American subculture, a sense of rural isolation, a strong regional identity, and more. The South has developed its own customs, literature, musical styles (such as country music, blues and jazz), and cuisine.

The largest group of Southerners are primarily the descendants of the Celtic immigrants who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to an 1860 census, "three-quarters of white Southerners had surnames that were Scottish, Irish or Welsh in origin." 250,000 settled in the USA between 1717 and 1770 alone. They were often called "crackers" by English neighbors. As one wrote, "I should explain ... what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." Most had previously lived in Scotland, usually in the Lowlands and Scottish Border Country. The "Celtic Thesis" of Forrest McDonald and Grady McWhiney holds that they were basically Celtic (as opposed to Anglo-Saxon), and that all Celtic groups (Scots Irish, Scottish, Welsh and others) were warlike herdsmen, in contrast to the peaceful farmers who predominated in England. Author James Webb uses this thesis in his book Born Fighting to suggest that the character traits of the Scots-Irish, loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and military readiness, "helped shape the American identity," and indeed, these features commonly seen in the South have long been woven into fabric of American society and policy.

The other primary population group in the South is made up of the African-American descendants of the slaves brought into the South. African-Americans comprise the United States' second-largest racial minority, accounting for 12.1 percent of the total population according to the 2000 census. Despite Jim Crow era outflow to the North (see Harlem) the vast majority of the black population remains concentrated in the southern states, and have transmitted their foods, music (see "negro spirituals"), art, and charismatic brand of Christianity to white Southerners, and the rest of the nation.

The South is highly religious, perhaps more so than any other industrialized culture in the world. Part of South is known as the "Bible Belt", because of the prevalence there of evangelical or fundamentalist Protestantism. The region is often seen as being intolerant of other religions or the non-religious. Southern churches evangelize more than churches in other regions, which many non-Protestants consider hostile, but few southerners question actual freedom of worship or non-worship. In addition, there are significant Roman Catholic populations along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and in most cities in the South (especially the port cities of New Orleans and Mobile, which are not only urban but have a history as French colonies). Cities such as Atlanta and Houston have significant Jewish and Islamic communities. Immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia have brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the region as well.

The Southern American English dialect is often stigmatized, as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the Southern dialect. It is spoken throughout the South, originating from the wave of Scot-Irish immigrants who have populated the region. These immigrants brought with them a very distinct style of English speaking, which was then combined with the African languages spoken by the African Americans who were at this time enslaved in the South. Over time this cultural and linguistic diversity combined with the South's rural isolation, and longtime use and familiarity with the King James Version of the Bible in religious life, to produce a unique American dialect. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects (see American English), with speech differing between, for example, the Appalachian region and the coastal area around Charleston, South Carolina. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), shares many similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given that group's strong historical ties to the region.

While traces of African language remain in AAVE, there are a few distinctively African dialect groups in the South, the Gullah the most famous among them. The Gullah people of the coastal low country of South Carolina have retained more aspects of their original African language and culture than any other African American group. They possess what some would even label a separate language and are the subject of rigorous study by linguists and anthropologists. Other, less known African American dialect groups are the rural blacks of the Mississippi Basin, and Africantown near Mobile, Alabama, where the last known ship to arrive in the Americas with slaves was abandoned in 1860.

There are several other unique linguistic enclaves in the American South. Among many is in the Outer Banks, which some scholars claim hosts an English dialect from the colonial South. The New Orleans or "Yat" dialect is similar to the "Brooklyn accent" because of an influx of German and Irish immigrants similar to what shaped Brooklyn. And many are familiar with the French-based Cajun dialect that pervades in the swamps of Louisiana and was satirized in Adam Sandler's comedy The Waterboy.

The South was distinctive for its production of tobacco, which earned premium prices from around the world. Next to cotton it was the dominant cash crop from the earliest days to the late 20th century, especially in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky. Most farmers grew a little for their own use, or traded with neighbors who grew it. 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, NC and Richmond, VA. 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, which had to compete with Chesterfields, Lucky Strikes, and eventually Old Golds. Reynolds sold large quantities of chewing tobacco, though that market peaked about 1910 as people shifted to cigarettes.^[1] In the late 20th century, use of smokeless tobacco by adolescent American males increased by 450% for chewing tobacco and by 1500%, or fifteen-fold, 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. [1][2]

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: ^[2]

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.

As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. The variety of cuisines range from Tex-Mex cuisine, Cajun and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina & Memphis styles of Barbecue. Non-alcoholic beverages of choice include "sweet tea," and various soft drinks, many of which had their origins in the South (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Dr Pepper. In many parts of Georgia, Alabama, Texas and other parts of the South, the term "soft drink" is discarded in favor of "Coke"). Lagers and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the predominance of hot climate. Texas is also the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country.

Traditional African-American Southern food is often called "soul food". Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, so-called "home cooking" establishments.

The South has a strong literary history. Characteristics of Southern literature including a focus on a common Southern history, the significance of family, a sense of community and one's role within it, the community's dominant religion (Christianity: Protestantism) and the burdens/rewards religion often brings, issues of racial tension, land and the promise it brings, and the use of the Southern dialect.

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 writing (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).

Other well-known Southern writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, James Dickey, Willie Morris, Tennessee Williams, and Walker Percy. One of the most famous Southern novels of the 20th century, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, won the Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 1960.

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 highlands folk music brought from Europe. 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, bluegrass, jazz (including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin), and Appalachian folk music all were either born in the South or developed in the region.

Rock n' roll began in the south as well. Early rock n' roll musicians from the south include Johnny Cash (Arkansas), Buddy Holly (Texas), Bo Diddley (Mississippi), Ray Charles (from Georgia, though his musical career started in Seattle), Carl Perkins (Tennessee), Elvis Presley (born in Mississippi, alhough lived in Memphis, Tennessee during his career), and Jerry Lee Lewis (Louisiana) among others. Chuck Berry, an important early rock n' roll figure along with Elvis, is from St. Louis, Missouri, a state that is sometimes considered Southern, and a city with an undeniable Southern influence, largely due to its large African American population and location on the Mississippi River. Many who got their start in show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton are two such examples.

A recent rise in interest in rapping (which is arguably the only major American music not started in the South) has allowed for varried styles. Atlanta, Georgia, Houston, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee are noted hot spots for distinct styles of rap music. During the earlier years rap was domniated by a rivalry between east and west coast styles and rappers, now there is a third contender the Dirty South or third coast (which refers to the Gulf Coastal region of Texas and Lousianna)

The South is known for its love of football. While the South has had a number of Super Bowl winning National Football League teams (such as the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens), the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school and college football teams -- especially the Southeastern Conference and in Texas where high school football, especially in smaller communities, is elevated to a high status. Often times dominating over all else for the purposes of socalizing and leisure.

Baseball is also very popular in the South, with Major League Baseball teams like the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins being recent World Series victors. 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).

The South is also the birthplace of NASCAR auto racing. Other popular sports in the South include golf (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate), fishing, and the hunting of wild game such as deer, birds, and raccoons.

Ironically, the hot-weather Tampa Bay Lightning are the defending National Hockey League champions.

Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

The South has contributed to some of the most-loved and financially successful movies of all time, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). The Dukes of Hazzard remains a very popular television show nearly thirty years after its inception. All were filmed in Georgia with other places in the South also featured prominently. The Dallas (TV series) is another example of a nationally popular television show that featured living in the south predominatly throughout.

There continues to be debate about what constitutes the basics elements of Southern culture.[3] This debate is influenced, in part, by the fact that the South is such a large region. As a result, there are a number of cultural variations on display in the region.

• Southern United States
• Country music
• Deep South
• History of the Southern United States
• Politics of the Southern United States
• Southern American English
• Southern literature