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I don't think it is the Southern qualities, but the Western qualities which Dallas has and Atlanta doesn't which dilutes the "Southerness" of Dallas.
Good point, but these "western qualities" have to be qualified. Most of the western aspects of Texas were/are of a Southern deriviation. For instance, the Texas cowboy. For sure, it is "western"...but most of those ol' boys were ex-Confederate soldiers or sons of the same who tackled the cattle and drove them north. It was the tradition of the Old South cattle drovers which dominated in Texas, not the Mexican vaquero.
In fact, the Texas cattle boom is directly traceable to the WBTS. Vicksburg, Mississippi was considered the "nailhead" of the Confederacy...it held the two halves together. And it was there the Texas cattle were driven east to feed the Confederate armies. Once it fell to the yankees in 1863, the market to the rest of the South was cut off.
With most of Texan men off fighting the war, the untended herds of cattle became feral. When the war ended, and the South devastated by war, there was no market save that up north. At the same time, ruined by the same war devasation, many southeasterners went GTT (Gone To Texas) to get a new start.
Cattle and cheap land were a commodity to be taken advantage of, and, again, no market in the South, they drove them north to Kansas. Still though, the connection pretty much stopped there. Animosities left over from the "Civil War" still existed, and some of the legendary "gun-fights" in Kansas cowtown are traceable to animosities left over from the conflict. They might do business with each other, but they sure as hell didn't like each other! LOL
As a general rule, the Kansans hated the hell-raising Texas cowboys and the latter considered the former a bunch of uppity yankees! LOL
On the flip side, do the East Coast qualities that Atlanta has and Dallas doesn't dilute the "southerness" of Atlanta? It works both ways...see...
No. You can't ignore the huge impact the Mexican culture has had on Dallas. Dallas was never as southern as ATL was to begin with. Many blacks were fleeing from other Texas cities to escape harsh living conditions to go to Dallas.
No. You can't ignore the huge impact the Mexican culture has had on Dallas. Dallas was never as southern as ATL was to begin with. Many blacks were fleeing from other Texas cities to escape harsh living conditions to go to Dallas.
Different cities throughout the south had varying degrees of living conditions for blacks. This has nothing to do with southernness. Atlanta was also one of those cities blacks were fleeing to.
But Dallas still had cotton plantations, slaves, poor sharecroppers, and segregation.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Dallas has too large a percent of Hispanic residents to be "truly" Southern. By definition the South is made up of Whites of British Isles descent and African Americans.
Dallas has too large a percent of Hispanic residents to be "truly" Southern. By definition the South is made up of Whites of British Isles descent and African Americans.
So what should we do with Atlanta's large Hispanic population? Does that mean that Atlanta isn't "southern"? How about Atlanta's large Korean and African populations?
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