Is Texas more Western or Southern? (Houston, Dallas: for sale, buy, stations)

[TexasReb]

I think every native Texan who considers themselves such and has the credentials, will absolutely affirm and proudly announce that Texas is, first and foremost, TEXAS.

To put it simply: TEXAS IS TEXAS. We all know that!

But IF we are not to be considered a region unto ourselves? Then our essential affiliation is Southern. It is our origins without question. The absolutely ludicrous notion that any other influences came close to matching that of the settlers from the southeastern United States from the beginning, is just flat silly.

I would certainly agree that urban areas of Texas are changing in many ways (hell, as they are in other Southern states as well). BUT....get off the beaten path...even IN the big cities, the influence of the South is still evident. No one could -- even in a city like Dallas and Houston -- even San Antone -- not see the South.

Texas is "western" in the same sense Georgia is "eastern". Texas is "southwestern" in the same sense that, at one time in time, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas and Louisiana were the "Southwest." That is, the "Old Southwest" of the 19th Century. Literally, the western part of the South. The western South; the "Frontier South". Where the essential elements of the South meet and blend with the post-bellum frontier West.

That -- "our Southwest" has very little in common with the "Southwest" of New Mexico and Arizona. Those twins did not even become states until the 20th Century. There is almost nothing "Southern" about them, and no way could they have influenced Texas. Likewise with Texas being a part of the "West". As in a shared history/culture with a Colorado or Wyoming or Utah? It isn't. It just can't be historically possible. Texas had long since been shaped by the forces of the American South before anything at all occured in those states.

Bottom line is, that Texas is both Southern and Western, as in the very classic sense of the South moved (literally) into a "western" (as opposed to "eastern") landscape and environment. In that way it is "Southwestern." Yet, it differs considerably, in all ways, with a "Southwest" of the "southern West"....(i.e. interior SW of NM, AZ, etc)...that is not Southern at all.

Texas is essentially Southern, as in it shares a common heritage/culture with the South that is obviously different from that of the Northeast, Midwest, or Far West.

P.S. Hell, at least in one way is nobody but someone in complete denial would think a Texas accent is anything but a variety of Southern American English! LOL

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by kingdomcome1

Western by far.....only a small fraction of the state would I consider southern (Houston and East Texas areas)

Please explain it a bit more than that. What does Texas' history/culture share more with, say, Colorado, than Tennessee...?

[HUM398]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

HUM, Texas is such a huge state with natives from many different cultures and backgrounds. What it means to be Texan has different meanings to different individuals. As a black native of Houston, I've found that I generally have more in common with Louisianans and other folks in the southeast than I have with people in other parts of Texas. Honestly, I love my state, but I'd feel more at home in Jacksonville, Birmingham, or Charlotte than I would in Lubbock, Amarillo, or even San Antonio. That may make me a southerner before Texan.

Thats because East Texas and Louisiana share a similar culture (with the exception of south-east LA). It also because blacks in Louisiana often come to Texas as they get older for work in the cities. Especially now with New Orleans really limping back in terms of opportunity for blacks.

You have more in common with the vast majority of East and Southeast Texas then you probably know.

Of course you wouldn't feel as comfortable in towns like Lubbock, or Amarillo. (and i think you would feel just fine in San Antone).
1. Amarillo and Lubbock are largely white cities
2. No one in either one of those cities feels very comfortable.

[scout2009]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Please explain it a bit more than that. What does Texas' history/culture share more with, say, Colorado, than Tennessee...?

Repubic of Texas contained parts of Colorado not Tennessee...

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by scout2009

Repubic of Texas contained parts of Colorado not Tennessee...

True. And....?

[ReppingDFW]

Originally Posted by scout2009

Repubic of Texas contained parts of Colorado not Tennessee...

That is true, but culturally, Texas resembles Tennessee more so than Colorado.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by ReppingDFW

Texas is in the Bible Belt, the Western states are not. So Southern.

To be fair, not all of Texas is in the bible belt.

[ReppingDFW]

Originally Posted by Spade

To be fair, not all of Texas is in the bible belt.

Yes. South Texas and Trans-Pecos aren't in the Bible Belt, and they aren't really considered to be "Southern" either. They're the exception rather than the true.

That being said, there was a civil war battle fought in Brownsville and there's a Confederate memorial in El Paso.

[TexasHorseLady]

You know, being raised a preacher's kid in the 1950's in East Texas, I have NEVER considered Texas to be part of the Bible Belt. Or a Southern state, for that matter. (Nothing against Southern states, I qualify for the Daughters of the Confederacy as well as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas - different ancestors from different places at different times.)

I don't get this obsession that Texas MUST be Southern - seems like wishful thinking to me, because Texas is so large and of such diverse heritage and topography that, as I've said before, you'd have to ignore vast swathes of its land and vast parts of its heritage in order to claim it so.

[Houston3]

We are more Texan.....