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They are in the single digits today. On the eve of the Civil War, they had relatively high black populations (with the exception of Oklahoma, which was Indian Territory in 1860).
In 1860, 20.44% of Kentucky's population was "colored." In Maryland, it was 24.91%. In neighboring Pennsylvania, it was 1.96%.
Besides, is anyone in their right mind really going to argue that a state with plantations and tens of thousands of slaves wasn't southern? And that that history has absolutely no bearing on the present day?
So Maryland is one of the few southern states whose black population % is higher today than pre-Civil War. Only Georgia has shown a few recent increase in %.
Note today, New York has a higher black % than Texas. But Texas isn't what I think of as typically southern nor full of plantation slavery, but initially its black % was similar to other southern states.
I dont understsand why some people seem to think that DC and Baltimore are part of "the south" when in reality they are considered part of the north.. I grew up in the South and whenver DC or Baltimore came up in a conversation it was always referred to as "the north" and "Northeast" cities.. I currently live in DC and I assure you there is NOTHING "southern" about DC.. The people, attitudes, cultures, infrastructure, etc. are all characteristic of a northeastern city..
I dont understsand why some people seem to think that DC and Baltimore are part of "the south" when in reality they are considered part of the north.. I grew up in the South and whenver DC or Baltimore came up in a conversation it was always referred to as "the north" and "Northeast" cities.. I currently live in DC and I assure you there is NOTHING "southern" about DC.. The people, attitudes, cultures, infrastructure, etc. are all characteristic of a northeastern city..
Some people try to base their argument on historical purposes which is debatable but a lot of the arguments for DC and Baltimore being part of the South are largely based on delusion.
Note today, New York has a higher black % than Texas. But Texas isn't what I think of as typically southern nor full of plantation slavery, but initially its black % was similar to other southern states.
Texas is what I think of as typically southern. By the start of the Civil War, the state was 30.2% Black. Sharecropping, extra-judicial killings and Jim Crow are just as much a part of Texas' history as they are any other southern state's.
I dont understsand why some people seem to think that DC and Baltimore are part of "the south" when in reality they are considered part of the north.. I grew up in the South and whenver DC or Baltimore came up in a conversation it was always referred to as "the north" and "Northeast" cities.. I currently live in DC and I assure you there is NOTHING "southern" about DC.. The people, attitudes, cultures, infrastructure, etc. are all characteristic of a northeastern city..
You should write an open letter to Benjamin Jealous in the Baltimore Sun responding to his Op-Ed.
Quote:
Maryland is a Southern state, as it always has been. But you could forgive a young person today for believing that the Mason-Dixon Line begins just a little farther down Interstate 95.
In our democratic system, power lies in numbers, and those numbers are in favor of the civil and human rights community more and more each year. The Mason-Dixon Line still sits north of the Maryland border, but Maryland is not seceding from the South; it is demonstrating the South's future.
In a 2000 University of North Carolina poll, 40% of Marylanders said that the state was a part of the South. So that's at least one reason why many people still say it's a southern state. Maybe Benjamin Jealous was one of the respondents in the UNC poll.
The problem with these threads is that everyone wants to take a set of criteria they think defines "northerness" and then ignore everything else. It's true that the DC area has things in common with northern cities, but it's also true that DC has things in common with southern cities. Until the 1960s and 70s, DC was undeniably a southern city. So why wouldn't still have things in common with southern cities.
According to the link I posted, the zip codes in yellow are the wealthiest and most educated 5% in the United States. Here is the number of yellow zip codes in northeastern metro areas:
Washington DC & Baltimore = 78
New York City & Philadelphia = 192
Boston = 69
These are the largest southern metro areas for comparison:
Atlanta = 4
Dallas = 12
Houston = 9
As you can see, there is a stark difference in the magnitude of these numbers between northern and southern metro areas. There are no southern metro areas with continuous yellow zip codes like what characterizes the northeast. This kind of data - wealth and educational level - provides a lot more clues about the lifestyles of people who live in a region and what they share in common rather than statistics about racial differences.
Some people try to base their argument on historical purposes which is debatable but a lot of the arguments for DC and Baltimore being part of the South are largely based on delusion.
True, but it's more of a mix of both regions in my opinion, so I don't consider Maryland to be a pure blood Southern state like South Carolina or a pure blood Northern state like Massachusetts. It's always been that way as a matter of fact. Maryland is just weird like that. That mixture is heavily reflected in our linguistics, cuisine, history, demographic makeup, local/state/national politics, tax structure, infrastructure, road etiquette (cue the trash talkers from VA lol), architecture (Northern stately elegance and Southern quirky exuberance), and just the general way on how us Marylanders carry ourselves depending on the region within the state. We don't know what our true regional identity really is (we're pretty divided on it) but it is whatever someone makes it out to be. To me...Maryland is practically the quintessential Mid-Atlantic state that behaves like an extension of the Northeast yet with something akin to a New South vibe and a touch of Appalachia.
True, but it's more of a mix of both regions in my opinion, so I don't consider Maryland to be a pure blood Southern state like South Carolina or a pure blood Northern state like Massachusetts. It's always been that way as a matter of fact. Maryland is just weird like that. That mixture is heavily reflected in our linguistics, cuisine, history, demographic makeup, local/state/national politics, tax structure, infrastructure, road etiquette (cue the trash talkers from VA lol), architecture (Northern stately elegance and Southern quirky exuberance), and just the general way on how us Marylanders carry ourselves depending on the region within the state. We don't know what our true regional identity really is (we're pretty divided on it) but it is whatever someone makes it out to be. To me...Maryland is practically the quintessential Mid-Atlantic state that behaves like an extension of the Northeast yet with something akin to a New South vibe and a touch of Appalachia.
Good post. This is 100% accurate.
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