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Surprisingly, Kentucky and North Carolina have about the same number of Cuban residents. This means they make up a noticeably higher share of Kentucky residents, per capita, given the state's much smaller population. There is a large community in the Louisville area. So there are some exceptions to the general pattern of Kentucky being culturally homogeneous.
Louisville is also seeing greater in-migration of Puerto Ricans as the population has collapsed on the island due to economic and other factors. The island has declined by over 14% in population due to stronger out-migration and plummeting birth rates since 2010 according to census data.
Much of Kentucky feels more Appalachian than traditionally Southern. Louisville does feel somewhat Midwestern but the influence isn’t as strong as the Appalachian culture in the eastern half of KY.
I'm sorry...but can we define again what is "southern?" And how states are becoming less southern? Or, how a state has not lost its' "southernness."
This is the year 2021 and I'm reading all of these threads comparing the southerness of each other, and I'm not clear if from post to post everyone is on the same page.
I think NC would have been considerably more Southern about 40-60 years ago, but with all the influx of Northerners into the Research Triangle, Charlotte and Asheville and the fact that Kentucky has mostly lacked that kind of influx..may have shifted the balance toward Kentucky.
This is what I suspect, too. NC has more transplants moving into there, and the times I've visited more states, KY feels more southern for sure. Honestly the only part of KY that might be good in attracting transplants, would be Louisville. And I suspect northern KY(i.e. Newport, Covington, etc) might be able to attract some transplants too, due to its proximity to Cincinnati. Hence why I voted KY.
I'm sorry...but can we define again what is "southern?" And how states are becoming less southern? Or, how a state has not lost its' "southernness."
This is the year 2021 and I'm reading all of these threads comparing the southerness of each other, and I'm not clear if from post to post everyone is on the same page.
I'll try my best:
True "Southernness" is, imo, a state of mind.
It's about acknowledging, authentically and honestly, the tragic yet beautiful history of this region and the people who have lived here (particularly those against their will) for hundreds of years, not to mention the natives who have been here for quite a bit longer, before "the South" was even a thing. It's about recognizing all those who have toiled on this land we (and all future others) call home, from enslaved peoples and indentured servants and yeoman farmers to coal miners and immigrant laborers, and those who have oppressed and exploited those aforementioned. It's about wincing at the sad contradiction of a land with some of the richest, most fertile, most cultivated soil in the world, yet with some of the most impoverished, most malnourished, most neglected people living on these same soils.
Yet it's also about rejoicing over the tremendous beauty and inextinguishable spirit formed, and only possible, from such a deeply affecting and tumultuous place, a land of the richest culinary traditions, the rawest, most soulful music, the most expressive and endearing speech and language, and the most inspiring and or humbling landscapes. It's about embracing all that defines the South and its history and hardship, to not shy away from or deny what has made us who we are. To candidly accept and learn from our past, to never forget those who have taken immense strides and sacrificed unfathomably to better Southern and American society. To hold onto those traditions that imprint onto us our cherished identities, yet to let go of that which has divided and demoralized and dehumanized us.
Being "Southern" is NOT the same as being religious or Republican or rural or racist, or any combination of the stereotypical and often one-dimensional or harmful labels of the South. The South is anything but a monolith. This is a region stretching from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia to the bayous of Louisiana to the palm-fringed coasts of Florida. Southerners are white, black, brown, Hispanic, native, and Asian. City dwellers and country folk. Episcopalians and Evangelicals. Thickly accented and accent-less. Pickup drivers and Prius owners. Alabama fans and Auburn fans. Dukies and Tar Heels.
True Southernness, however, is about something that easily transcends these kinds of identities or beliefs or affiliations, and is about something much more important and universal and innate. It's about knowing that "bless your heart" is our way of politely telling someone to go f themselves
North Carolina is more traditionally southern IMO. Kentucky is more Appalachian like West Virginia feeling to me.
Kentucky and West Virginia have all of the issues of Appalachia (mountaintop removal mining, large-scale poverty, little tourism, little in the way of jobs), with few of the advantages that Appalachian North Carolina has by comparison.
Kentucky and West Virginia have all of the issues of Appalachia (mountaintop removal mining, large-scale poverty, little tourism, little in the way of jobs), with few of the advantages that Appalachian North Carolina has by comparison.
Appalachian poverty and Rust Belt decay collide in West Virginia. It really is unfortunate, because it's a beautiful state. Tourism and growth from the Pittsburgh metro could potentially help West Virginia, though.
Western North Carolina, on the contrary, has always attracted tourism, even back in the day of Biltmore Estate. Coal mining was never prevalent in the mountains of North Carolina, unlike Kentucky or West Virginia. Therefore, western North Carolina had to rely on tourism (and furniture manufacturing to a lesser extent). Also, it certainly helps that western North Carolina is close to large cities such as Charlotte and Winston-Salem.
North Carolina is more traditionally southern IMO. Kentucky is more Appalachian like West Virginia feeling to me.
Once you get past the Eastern 3rd of Kentucky it doesn't feel Appalachian at all. Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky would never be mistaken for W. VA lol. Even less so the further west in Kentucky you go, it's very decidedly southern. It's always surprising to me how much that "Hill Country" stigma dominates the popular culture impression of Kentucky when 3/4's of it's population doesn't feel that way at all.
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