Boston, Denver, or Atlanta (Which is more important to their region?) (live, better)
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Memphis is still solidly in the coastal plain. It's more likely to get skipped when people define Deep South by states.
I'm from Birmingham. If you're classifying Deep South by state, then it's a bit of a meaningless description. Birmingham, is... weird. It's Deep South, but not. Appalachian, but not. Piedmont, but not. It's Highland Rim south like Nashville or Huntsville, but not. And it doesn't really think to call itself its own subregion. The area will describe itself to people outside the area as Deep South, but it's a bit out of convenience. If you say, "Yeah, its Southern, but not really the Deep South." I don't think there'd be much effort to disagree as long as they didn't take it to imply that Birmingham isn't Southern. It's not a shame thing, either. It's a metro that people don't know that much about, so it's just easier to use a template to advertise even if it's not the best fit.
Excellent use of a map to illustrate real tie of geography rather than mere borders to culture. The coastal plains/river bottom is where plantation culture dominated socioeconomic and political development for generations, the residue of which is still strong even with the overlay of more recent developments.
Only part of Deep East Texas is usually considered as Deep South. To most Texans, Houston isn't in East Texas even though it is in Eastern Texas. Culturally, there is a difference between Gulf Coast and the Tyler/Longview/Marshall/Lufkin/Nacogdoches part of Texas which is considered East Texas culturally. Houston has rarely been discussed as a Deep South city.
Here's a good link on it. You see Harris County and the other Houston area counties aren't mentioned.
Only part of Deep East Texas is usually considered as Deep South. To most Texans, Houston isn't in East Texas even though it is in Eastern Texas. Culturally, there is a difference between Gulf Coast and the Tyler/Longview/Marshall/Lufkin/Nacogdoches part of Texas which is considered East Texas culturally. Houston has rarely been discussed as a Deep South city.
Here's a good link on it. You see Harris County and the other Houston area counties aren't mentioned.
It's true on every thread on C-D. Maybe its not true IRL, but here- its true.
I hate to rely on wikipedia for this, but it's due to definition. For people in the the South, the "original" context for the Deep south is pretty easy to grasp.
Quote:
When "Deep South" first began to gain mainstream currency in print in the middle of the 20th century, it applied to the states and areas of South Carolina, Georgia, southern Alabama, northern Florida, Mississippi, northern Louisiana, West Tennessee, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas, all historical areas of cotton plantations and slavery.
Folks from outside the region tend to go with the Cliff's Notes version that's more state by state instead of partial state.
Quote:
Later, the general definition expanded to include all of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, as well as often taking in bordering areas of West Tennessee, East Texas and North Florida.
A problem arises, since people tend to take Alabama as one of the prototypical Deep South states. While all parts of the traditional Deep South haven't been doing well, Alabama's portion has been hit particularly hard. Rural southern Alabama is not probably one of the least populated parts of the Deep South now even compared to southern Georgia or rural Mississippi. Mobile is Gulf Coast and Montgomery pales in comparison to the other main cities in the state.
Compare the cultural weight you assign to Mobile: Montgomery/Dothan to other Deep South areas in other states (format coastal: inland): Biloxi: Jackson/Meridian; New Orleans: Baton Rouge/Shreveport; Savannah: Augusta/Macon/Columbus; Charleston: Columbia. While Montgomery might beat out a city or two, as a package, Alabama's Deep South package is relatively weak in terms of popular zeitgeist.
A lot of the current cultural weight of the state comes from the northern half of the state: Birmingham, Huntsville, Talladega, Muscle Shoals, etc. So traits of those areas tend to be used as a Deep South prototype, when they're areas that weren't originally in the Deep South definition.
North Carolina feels more southern to me than East Texas
The American South
Georgia
South Carolina
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee
North Carolina
Louisiana
Arkansas (including Missouri south of U.S. Route 60)
Kentucky (minus Cincinnati suburbs, but including Missouri Bootheel))
North Florida (north of Orlando)
South Virginia (from just north of Charlottesville on southward, including most of Shenandoah Valley and the part of West Virginia south of Charleston)
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