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TexasReb, sounds good! I don't want you to think I was being argumentative by saying "well if that is what you want to tell me". That isn't what I meant at all.
I grew up thinking Texas was always very Southern, but then the older I got, the more I learned it had other elements. Having a Texan boyfriend who was part Czech was a huge eye opener. You hardly run into someone like that in Alabama. That seems to be more common in the Upper Midwest.
By the way, what is the "hill country" region of Texas?
The Hill Country starts just outside of San Antonio and goes up north past llano area.
It is the central part of Texas, very hilly. A lot of german settlements were located there
Yep, I caught that. And it was an excellent question and consideration. And one that ought to make some of the "Deep South purists" think on it! (god love 'em...many are close friends and some are distant kin! LOL)
oh but surely they will come up with a new disqualify.
Did you notice they were making excuses that the latin people there already are from the Caribbean?
They are claiming that the south is one culture and when you ask them what will be the result when that culture changes, will it be the same as with Texas, and they tell you it may change but a different type of change from Texas.
Does it matter? The culture they are trying to exclude Texas out of because it has diminished here, is going to diminish over there too, but it is okay, it is change they can believe in
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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Georgia Demographics
White - 65.0%
Black - 30.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons - 0.4%
Asian persons - 3.0%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.1%
Persons reporting two or more races - 1.3%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin - 8.3%
White persons not Hispanic - 57.5%
I'm not quite sure how Georgia soon would become "western" because of a Mexican population that is still much lower than Black and White, and it's pretty much confined to a couple counties in metro Atlanta, as opposed to blacks and whites that live in high numbers in each area of the state.
TexasReb, sounds good! I don't want you to think I was being argumentative by saying "well if that is what you want to tell me". That isn't what I meant at all.
I grew up thinking Texas was always very Southern, but then the older I got, the more I learned it had other elements. Having a Texan boyfriend who was part Czech was a huge eye opener. You hardly run into someone like that in Alabama. That seems to be more common in the Upper Midwest.
By the way, what is the "hill country" region of Texas?
Oh no, I didn't take it that way at all. I enjoy a good discussion/debate with people -- even if I disagree with them -- who know their stuff and keep it respectful and civil!
*laughing a bit* Hell, one of my very best friends is a flaming yankee liberal. I don't agree with him on much of anything I can think of, and many a night we would kill off a case of beer while pounding the table and heatedly arguing this or that! LOL BUT...we had a tremendous amount of respect for one another and were, and remain, good friends!
Yes, you are correct that Texas -- as a whole -- is not a "typical" Southern state...if the standard of definition is to be that "moonlight and magnolias Gone With the Wind" variety. But then again, how many Southern states are?
As has been said many times, the South is not a monolithic region. Superficially, it might be fair to say that Virginia has little in common with Texas. And Georgia isn't Arkansas. A large part of Florida is odd man out completely, in many ways.
The South (of course IMHO, which along with a dollar gets a draw beer at a cheapo joint!), is more -- to use the cliche' -- a certain state of mind and what bonds the different states together is a shared commonality of history and culture and settlement. And the language cannot be forgotten (Old Times There? *grins). Hell, a Southerner -- black or white -- will recognize another Southerner (be they from the bookends of Texas, Virginia or Florida) just by speech alone! LOL
Anyway, while some states don't fit the common mold of the "classic belles and ballrooms South" they are still so noteably similar -- in terms of a common heritage and outlook -- that it makes them unmistakeably different from the rest of the country. They share much more with one another than they do with the Northeast, Midwest, or Far West.
It is not so much a geographic location as, wellll, perhaps a certain self-identification with the South. To paraphrase Dr. John Shelton Reed, the South is where Southerners live. And to further fine-tune, there is a definite area in the southeastern and south-central parts of the country where a majority of residents consider their community to be in the South and think of themselves as Southerners (I will post that in a minute).
The Hill Country of Texas? Here is a pretty good link:
White - 65.0%
Black - 30.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons - 0.4%
Asian persons - 3.0%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.1%
Persons reporting two or more races - 1.3%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin - 8.3%
White persons not Hispanic - 57.5%
I'm not quite sure how Georgia soon would become "western" because of a Mexican population that is still much lower than Black and White, and it's pretty much confined to a couple counties in metro Atlanta, as opposed to blacks and whites that live in high numbers in each area of the state.
look at Texas Demographics for the last 30 years and you will see how.
mind, you Georgia is a third of the size of Texas.
White - 65.0%
Black - 30.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons - 0.4%
Asian persons - 3.0%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.1%
Persons reporting two or more races - 1.3%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin - 8.3%
White persons not Hispanic - 57.5%
I'm not quite sure how Georgia soon would become "western" because of a Mexican population that is still much lower than Black and White, and it's pretty much confined to a couple counties in metro Atlanta, as opposed to blacks and whites that live in high numbers in each area of the state.
I am not presuming to speak for Htownlove, but I think the real intent of the question was to point out that, as demographics are also rapidly changing in even some Deep South states (Georgia in particular), could the same factors -- which affect Texas in popular mindset as to its "Southerness" -- also become true of Georgia?
In other words (and again, not trying to speak for any one else) if trends continue, and Georgia eventually evolves into a state where the population is minority-majority hispanic and/or foriegn? Will it too cease to be considered a Southern state?
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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Texas has always had a significant population of mexicans and they live in many areas of the state. Georgia's mexican population and population growth is pretty much only in CERTAIN parts of a COUPLE of metro Atlanta counties.
It may have an impact on metro ATL, but certainly not Georgia as a whole. It's still very black/white over the rest of the state.
The hispanic population is barely visible in the other metro areas of Georgia and the rural counties.
Here are the aggregate results of the "Southern Focus Poll" I mentioned earlier. It spanned 7 years with 14 seperate questionaires among 17,000 respondents. BTW -- for space-sake, I have "edited" the results to only included those states classified as "South" by the U.S Census Bureau, or (in the case of Missouri) have some historical association with the South.
Percent who say their community is in the South (percentage base in parentheses)
West Virginia 25 (84) Maryland 19 (192) Missouri 15 (197) New Mexico 13 (68) Delaware 12 (25) D.C. 12 (16)
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Southern self-identification
