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For what it’s worth, this site is the only place where I’ve seen DC consistently referred to as the south. I’ve never met anyone in real life feels this way.
Where are you from? I think that can make a huge difference. I have a lot of friends from NY/NJ who constantly refer to MD and DC as "down South." To be fair, I also know a good number of people from mostly NJ/PA that do not refer to MD/DC as Southern (but it is pretty much split down the middle). Again, nobody from the northeast will confuse MD/DC with Mississippi, Alabama, or the Deep South.
Many people in the Midwest consider MD/DC to be the South. In fact, I was living in Michigan when UMD entered the Big Ten, and on the radio they were mentioning how "you know college football has really changed when you have a Southern state in the Big Ten " (paraphrasing). It was a really big topic.
If you ask people from the deep/deeper South, they will likely not consider MD/DC southern. If you ask people from the west coast, they will probably consider MD/DC to be the "east coast."
I think where you're from has a lot to do with it. I grew up in the MD/DC area and know a lot of people who consider it the South (which it technically is), but more in a "down South" way rather than a "deep South" way, if that makes sense.
Where are you from? I think that can make a huge difference. I have a lot of friends from NY/NJ who constantly refer to MD and DC as "down South." To be fair, I also know a good number of people from mostly NJ/PA that do not refer to MD/DC as Southern (but it is pretty much split down the middle). Again, nobody from the northeast will confuse MD/DC with Mississippi, Alabama, or the Deep South.
Many people in the Midwest consider MD/DC to be the South. In fact, I was living in Michigan when UMD entered the Big Ten, and on the radio they were mentioning how "you know college football has really changed when you have a Southern state in the Big Ten " (paraphrasing). It was a really big topic.
If you ask people from the deep/deeper South, they will likely not consider MD/DC southern. If you ask people from the west coast, they will probably consider MD/DC to be the "east coast."
I think where you're from has a lot to do with it. I grew up in the MD/DC area and know a lot of people who consider it the South (which it technically is), but more in a "down South" way rather than a "deep South" way, if that makes sense.
I grew up in NYC, with a few years in Richmond. My adult life has been mostly split between NY, Boston, Chicago and Pittsburgh. I’ve never heard anyone call DC southern. As far as MD to the Big 10 goes, I think sports throw off geography. Maryland had been an ACC program for so long, I could see how one might consider it a Southern school.
And its also at the doorstep of the Northeast. You go just a little while north and its a different world. (not to say the north wasn't racist too, of course) You go a little north of Miami and... its all deep south.
And if we're gonna bring up culture and history, then maybe we should also discuss climate. Come January, which do you think feels more southern? lol.
Honestly, MOST of the South gets cold in the winter. Even most parts of Florida. Miami's climate is not only an anomaly for the US, it's an anomaly in Florida and the South as a whole. Miami's climate, foliage, and architecture are like nowhere else in the US. Clearly, I think Miami is more culturally Southern than DC because of my previous argument. But there are specific things about Miami that make it standout from most of the South and the US as a whole. People in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston and other warm climates vacation to Miami in the winter, because Miami is one of the few cities that constantly sits at 65 and above in the middle of winter, even at night time. Even Houston, NO, Savannah, Orlando, etc dip to 45 during winter nights. Even then, Miami is susceptible to cold fronts and cold snaps. Climate wise, I'd say cold weather doesn't make a city seem more Northern. It snows annually in Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Richmond, etc.
I don’t think you understand the history in Bahamians in Miami. The story of black Miami is Bahamian. And that’s long before other Afro-Caribbean immigrants came.
Find me a fourth-generation Miamian, and I all but guarantee that person is black and of Caribbean origin. Bahamians literally predate permanent white settlement in Miami.
Alot of those Bahamians have been in Miami since before and maybe a little bit after AA's emancipation. Some have been here since the slave trade. Those Bahamians are every bit as Southern as your average AA. At what point to they not be seen as Caribbean over Southern? They been here since before emancipation of AA's. That's like saying an Black person from New Orleans with Haitian roots dating back to the 1800's isn't AA, who's family has been here since the 1800's isn't AA or a Southerner. They'll look at you crazy. Most Black Bahamians in Miami who's family has been there since before Miami was even established as a city, would tell you they are Southerners.
Honestly, MOST of the South gets cold in the winter. Even most parts of Florida. Miami's climate is not only an anomaly for the US, it's an anomaly in Florida and the South as a whole. Miami's climate, foliage, and architecture are like nowhere else in the US. Clearly, I think Miami is more culturally Southern than DC because of my previous argument. But there are specific things about Miami that make it standout from most of the South and the US as a whole. People in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston and other warm climates vacation to Miami in the winter, because Miami is one of the few cities that constantly sits at 65 and above in the middle of winter, even at night time. Even Houston, NO, Savannah, Orlando, etc dip to 45 during winter nights. Even then, Miami is susceptible to cold fronts and cold snaps. Climate wise, I'd say cold weather doesn't make a city seem more Northern. It snows annually in Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Richmond, etc.
Which is why I always laugh when someone from the south laughs at people walking in snow in Philly and NYC.
Alot of those Bahamians have been in Miami since before and maybe a little bit after AA's emancipation. Some have been here since the slave trade. Those Bahamians are every bit as Southern as your average AA. At what point to they not be seen as Caribbean over Southern? They been here since before emancipation of AA's. That's like saying an Black person from New Orleans with Haitian roots dating back to the 1800's isn't AA, who's family has been here since the 1800's isn't AA or a Southerner. They'll look at you crazy. Most Black Bahamians in Miami who's family has been there since before Miami was even established as a city, would tell you they are Southerners.
And the Bahamians in the Bahamas wouldn’t even claim them today. They are all Yankees to them!
Washington DC started as a Southern city whose culture has been completely diluted by transplants and immigrants.
Miami started out as a Northern outpost that is now a foreign, Latin American/Cuban city.
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