Texas is not the South but the South wants it to be (Houston: construction, school)

[walker1962]

Though due mainly to the Civil War, many consider Texas southern. I'm eight generation Texan and having lived in the State of and on from school to adulthood for over 40 years, I've seen change and studied its history. Its been a confluence of American history in ways many know and don't know. I think its history is as unique as any region in the western hemisphere for the last 400 years given its Six Flags over Texas experience.

Your thoughts?

[Iconographer]

Eastern Texas most certainly is; many of its earliest settlers came straight from the Southeastern US (including a branch of my own family). Southern mannerisms and traditions are to this day reflected in the character of eastern Texans.

"Within the Texas revolution, all restrictions on slavery were removed. The response was a large influx mainly from the Gulf Coastal Plain states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. This influx got huge importance on the populating of Texas. The cotton plantation life, based on a large influx of slaves, characterized the southern region till the Civil War. By 1850 there were 58,161 slaves in the state. The total aggregate population was at this time 212,592."

Texas 1836-1848 < Anglo-American colonization in Texas - Kjetil Ersdal < 1801-1900 < Essays < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond

[NOVA_guy]

It's the south.

[Drewjdeg]

Originally Posted by NOVA_guy

It's the south.

Transition from the South to the Southwest. El Paso is definitely not Southern.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by walker1962

I'm eight generation Texan

It shows.

I would tend to agree that outside of east Texas it really isn't southern in the truest sense although all of Texas outside of Big Bend certainly has southern elements and many of the people have southern roots. But there is something different about cowboy/ranching/plains culture that separates it from southern culture.

[Gaylord_Focker]

south. And I'm not sure about the south wanting Texas but there sure are Texans who don't want to be associated with the south?

[JMatl]

The thread title says it all. This is your personal issue, the South isn't trying to 'make' Texas be anything. You have convinced yourself that Texas is superior to everywhere, especially when it comes to its major cities being compared to their Southern peers.

[CCrest182]

I see Houston, Galveston, and Corpus Christi as "southern", but not Dallas, Austin, and most certainly not San Antonio and El Paso; that's all southwest. Really though, Texas has such a big state identity, that I just refer to it all as "Texas". Texas is so big it could really be a region all to itself. I definitely disagree though with saying Charlotte,NC and El Paso are in the same region. Even more ridiculous, saying West Virginia and El Paso are in the same region. That's crazy talk.

[MinivanDriver]

It really depends on what part of Texas it is. Texas is huge and covers a number of different cultures, climates, et al. I mean, there are parts of East Texas that are indistinguishable from Louisiana and Arkansas.

[As Above So Below...]

Everything East of Dallas is Southern. Houston certainly is.

Everything West of Dallas and east of Midland may have Southern elements, but its more in a transition zone. I also dont really see Corpus and the RGV as Southern.

Texas is just too complex to categorize.