Is Kentucky the south or the midwest? (Louisville, Richmond: pine, architecture)

[KerryB]

The sheer fact that this thread is so ridiculously long & people cant agree shows you that KY isnt one thing or the other, so ya'll just gonna have to just live with it & accept that its a combination of things.

BTW, stop trying to label everything. Its not healthy.

[ComingNgoing]

Originally Posted by KerryB

The sheer fact that this thread is so ridiculously long & people cant agree shows you that KY isnt one thing or the other, so ya'll just gonna have to just live with it & accept that its a combination of things.

BTW, stop trying to label everything. Its not healthy.

Agreed! Why does it matter really? I believe most see it as an attitude/ culture, rather than geography.

I have lived in the "Midwest" or north to "true" southerners and I have lived in the (what I call southeast) south..Kentucky doesn't even apply to either. If you ever live in any place that is really the south, you will be taught very quickly that KY is not part of their clan..lol...you are all still northerners to them and you would soon learn what the north/ south is really all about. Then again, you would also find many who would just love a Kentuckian!

In my opinion, as far as culture goes, people below Richmond and in the eastern part of the state are far more like the "real" south, where the rest are just somewhere else...more midwestern I would say. All in all, it doesn't make one bit of difference to me, what it is referred to...I just live in the state of KY.

[northstar22]

Well, I'm from the actual Midwest (Michigan), and I've been to/through Kentucky many times, and I can tell you that there is NO WAY that Kentucky is a Midwestern state. You guys are 100% southern. Kentucky reminds me a lot more of Georgia than Michigan, or even Ohio and Indiana. No one in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, or other Midwestern states considers KY part of the Midwest. It's always referred to as a southern state.

[ComingNgoing]

Being to/ through KY doesn't really count, since you cannot decipher the environment while driving by. I am from Indiana and have lived in KY now for 15 years. Before moving here, I definitely thought the same as you, but you don't really know a place until you live there. In my particular area, I don't see it as southern, unless you are just going by accents. Besides all of that, why does Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or the Dakotas really care what region other states are considerd anyway? I would think they are too busy digging out of the snow "up" there in the deep freeze, that they wouldn't really have much time to concentrate on KY..lol

This thread is really too silly for words... :@)

[marmac]

Originally Posted by ComingNgoing

Being to/ through KY doesn't really count, since you cannot decipher the environment while driving by. I am from Indiana and have lived in KY now for 15 years. Before moving here, I definitely thought the same as you, but you don't really know a place until you live there. In my particular area, I don't see it as southern, unless you are just going by accents. Besides all of that, why does Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or the Dakotas really care what region other states are considerd anyway? I would think they are too busy digging out of the snow "up" there in the deep freeze, that they wouldn't really have much time to concentrate on KY..lol

This thread is really too silly for words... :@)

and yet you posted 7 sentences on it .

I'm always amazed when posters say-" who cares" after they get their post in.

[abbysenia]

It seems I'm very late to this discussion. However, it seems that this conversation has been happening since the 1800's so I guess it doesn't really matter. As an African American and a former Kentuckian I would like to state that Kentucky IS a southern state. It has all the Characteristics of a southern state with the exception of (OFFICIAL) secession. Kentucky's African American population has shrank significantly from a high of around 25-30%. The reasons for this are various. I haven't been able to find a concrete declaration of why. However, my cursory research as given various reason. In the 19th century blacks started to leave the south. Kentucky not being far from the north had a large amount of it's blacks leave. Even before the war, Kentucky had begun to export it's black population south to Plantations who could not longer import from African or the Caribbean because of the law. After the war a significant left for Kansas as part of the land grabs of the 19th century. However, the percentage may have went up mainly from the increase of whites moving into the state! Louisville saw a large inward migration of Germans, Jews and Irish! However today you may still find significant black populations in places like Shelby, Nelson and Marion counties! Not to mention the tail end of the black belt ends in South Western Kentucky in Fulton. Today the percentage of 7.7% is small but still larger that most other states. The very fact that so many black people LEFT Kentucky in the great migration is a testament to the state being a southern state with the legacy of Jim Crow and discrimination against black people. Kentucky like most states had specific laws addressing the enfranchisement/disenfrancisement of black people. You generally don't SPECIFICALLY address or discriminate against a little to non-existence population in state law....which is why there were few if ANY STATE laws addressing African American life across the Ohio River in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio or even Michigan(where about about 60% of my African American family migrated to from Lebanon, Kentucky...by passing Louisville(as my branch settled in)).

However, a current or historical population of black people is not the only characteristic of a southern state. The food, the religion, the music are all contributory. It should be noted that Southerns tend to be more religious that other regions of the country. The SOUTHERN Baptist Convention hold a majority of parishioners in the state. In actually that denominations FLAGSHIP institution, "Southern Baptist Seminary," has been in Louisville since the 19th century. As for food goes, who could argue that Fried Chicken is considered a southern dish...and Kentucky Friend Kentucky has brought this SOUTHERN dish to the world in fastfood form. The music of Bluegrass, born in Kentucky is a first cousin of country music which is generally considered southern.

If you can think of any Characteristic of the south, good or bad(lack of educational attainment) you'll probably find it in Kentucky.

Please also consider that Kentucky is a descendant of 'Virginia(a Southern State) and a sister to Tennessee(Culture of both states are VERY, VERY similar as are the demographic east of Jackson Tennessee).

[armywifeandmom]

I don't have a long and drawn out explanation for my conclusion about Kentucky (my home state) but I can say this with all honesty--and that is until I lived in Augusta GA I thought that KY was a southern state and all that being a southern state implied---after having the experience of living in the deep SOUTH for three years I can honestly say without hesitation and resevation that KY is no way in any shape, form or fashion what is considered a SOUTHERN state. In fact, I have been called many things in my life---varying from the complimentary to the obscene but none so obscene as to be called SOUTHERN as it is defined in the deep south. That is my experience---that is my reality--- I am not southern I am from Kentucky and there is a very distinct difference---of which I am now intensely proud given that I lived in GA. Ugh. to say the very least about that.

[JimmyJohnWilson]

i go to UK, so i meet all kinds of kentuckians. basically, regional identification varies dramatically thoughout the state.

in northern kentucky, almost nobody behaves with southern characteristics. the students from NoKY dont have manners, they dont want to hold the door for anybody. they tend to be just as loud and aggresive as the ohio out of staters.

louisville students it varies, many are Generic-ans, with that kind of high school movie, generic american quality to them.

lexington has some of that too, but most are more like original kentuckians.


so what does that leave? everybody else (about 80 percent of the population), the ones who are friendly, hold the door, speak with the southern dialect, and identify with the southern culture.

so it depends on where you're at in the state. but if you are going to take it as a whole, the vast majority of the state is southern culturally. its not 50/50, its an overwhelming majority.

i eat my grits and country sausage for breakfast every day, folks.

[pappy van winkle]

Originally Posted by armywifeandmom

I don't have a long and drawn out explanation for my conclusion about Kentucky (my home state) but I can say this with all honesty--and that is until I lived in Augusta GA I thought that KY was a southern state and all that being a southern state implied---after having the experience of living in the deep SOUTH for three years I can honestly say without hesitation and resevation that KY is no way in any shape, form or fashion what is considered a SOUTHERN state. In fact, I have been called many things in my life---varying from the complimentary to the obscene but none so obscene as to be called SOUTHERN as it is defined in the deep south. That is my experience---that is my reality--- I am not southern I am from Kentucky and there is a very distinct difference---of which I am now intensely proud given that I lived in GA. Ugh. to say the very least about that.

I take it you didn't read the whole thread? I know. It's long. This has been discussed. No one state defines what is or is not absolutely Southern. Augusta, or Georgia in general is NOTHING like Louisiana (northern or southern parts of either state, which are vastly different). Would you agree that La is not Southern? I doubt it. The fact is that the South is probably the most diverse region in the country (culture wise) all while being the only one where people expect every state to fit the same stereotype. It's simply impossible.

Kentucky is every bit as Southern as Georgia (or any other state in the South). In fact I'd say per capita, far and away more people in Kentucky identify with the South than in Georgia. The Atlanta metro area is not remotely southern, save maybe Buckhead. The same could be said for Athens, to a much lesser extent. I'll never forget visiting UGA and meeting a girl from Atlanta who went to school there. She kept asking my friends and I to say certain words for her, saying how much she loved our Southern accents, as if she had never heard one if real life before.

ETA: Just curious, where in KY are you originally from? I feel like it's probably NKY or NE KY. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[abbysenia]

There are many different characteristics that one would generally consider to be southern.
1. A significant population of African Americans. Even at only 7% Kentucky's African American population is still higher than most other states and more spread out. Just across the river in Indiana you have a slightly higher population and percentage...but is mainly found in Indianapolis and Gary.
2. History of southern cash crops like Tobacco and Cotton(Kentucky has the Tobacco and cotton was grown in the purchase).
3. Large religious church going population. We must remember that Louisville is home to Southern Baptist Seminary and has been since the around the end of the civil war(why put a denomination that is NAMED for a region seminary out side of said region). Today the largest religious group in Kentucky is the SBC.
4. Key cultural event is linked to southern nostalgia, I'm talking about the Kentucky Derby.
5. Your cuisine is southern. Kentucky Fried Chicken...until the colonel and the modern era..fried chicken was generally considered a southern/regional dish!
6. While not the majority...around 40% of Kentucky's soldiers fought for the Confederacy and the president of the confederacy was born in Kentucky and went to school in Kentucky(Transylvania).
7. On the negative you could even mention the aversion to change and education and a strong tendency to hold to tradition and the past!

Kentucky is the south historically and presently as recognized by the U.S. Government.

If Kentucky was a northern state... You probably wouldn't have a legacy of Jim Crow, Slavery, and aversion to Education. You might even have a more robust economy.