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Ditto on the theme of what you and my friend BlueSkies say. I am a Texan, a Southerner and an American (the first two closely akin! )
I know this will probably open up a can of worms here...and likely misunderstood by many (especially those not from the South). BUT...if it came down to brass tacks, then I owe my first loyalty to my state and region. In other words, yes, I am a Texan and Southerner first....
I agree with you, I'm from up North but I've lived down south here for 10 years (Georgia). People down here tend to focus on the different races rather than the fact that no matter what race you are, if you were born in the U.S., YOU ARE AN AMERICAN!!!!!!! It's quite frustrating as I grew up in the Chicagoland area for the first 25 years of my life and it's a huge melting pot of all races. I look at a person's heart on the inside, not what race they are and it's very prevalent down here. It's almost like being in a different country......the Civil War is still going on and it's 2010! Very sad in my opinion. I live in a fairly nice neighborhood, but one of the locals down the street insists on setting out a statue of a black person fishing in their pond and the couple is white. It's not only offensive to me and I'm not even black, but I don't get why they do this b/c they live across the street from a black man. Can someone tell me why they do this b/c I don't think it's cute or funny at all?
FYI-It seems as though some people think american is synonamous with white and that's not accurate!!! You can be any color and be an american if you were born in the US. The color of your skin does not dictate how american you are. It just bothers me again, about the way southerners interpret the word "american". They think that if you have dark hair, dark eyes or of asian, hispanic, black, Japanese descents, etc. that you are considered a foreigner. That couldn't be further from the truth......you can be any nationality or race and be an american b/c you were born in the U.S. I repeat american does not mean white, all races are american if THEY ARE BORN IN THE US!!!!! People need to educate themselves b/c their thoughts trickle down to the kids we raise and the cycle of ignorance continues on. Instead of "loving thy neighbor as thyself", we'll continue to have a world full of hate! I have a close friend who lives in the south and was told to go back to her country b/c she had dark hair, and dark eyes by a ignorant, southern woman. Well, naturally she got mad (eventhough she was from the Midwest too funny) and responded to the woman by saying this is her country and told her she would go back to her country if that woman went back to her trailer park. Two wrongs don't make a right, but she wanted to point out that if she was going to get stereotyped, she was going to throw another stereotype back at the woman. My friend continued by saying that she even spoke better English than the southern woman b/c fixin' and ya'll aren't even in the dictionary and are not proper English words. Haha! I said, "Good for you!" and laughed b/c that was the funniest story I had heard in a long time. Life is way too short for all this hatred in the world!
That excellent map shows that most white Southerners, unlike other Americans, chose "American" as their ancestry when they filled out the 2000 census. Obviously, they were from somewhere else: I'm guessing Scotland is one of the most common countries of origin for those with roots in the South. Did they choose American because...
1) Their family has been here so long...
2) It's more patriotic
or
3) Some other reason?
I'd be interested to know, especially if real, live Southerners here have anything to say.
Because they believe that they are the "real uhmerca". Remember the 2008 presidential campaign? That's all I'll say about that.
I have guessed it represents in this case an old Southern WASP culture. It seems the people who have this listed are both Protestant and from the British Isles from before the Am. Rev. I think being non-Protestant often allows more ethnic ties to persist, especially if there is a large group of the same. I also wonder how much this overlaps currently with Evangelical Protestants? I have noticed that Mormons though ethnically are from similar stock list English as ancestry. (look at Utah on these types of maps)
On census forms I take it on ancestry just put the two largest components of ethnic origions.
This is a very old thread but I am going to comment on it any ways.
I am from the south. On my mother's side I can trace back 16 generations in North American while on my father's side it is 15. I have done extensive genealogy research and it is very difficult for me to locate every single person that came to NorthA from another country. Yes I am mainly Welsh and English, but with some German and recently found Irish. My grandfather's grandmother was a Native American; one of I don't know how many in my family tree. I don't consider my self closely related to any of these countries or people because my family doesn't continue any traditions brought over from the "mother country". Yes this could be argued, but we can't say great-granma Ruth when she lived in Birmingham, England blah blah blah. Because of this I consider my self the great American mutt. There is not much for me to relate to besides being an American.
Most southern whites who tend to mark American as their ancestry are usually of British origin( English, Scottish, and Welsh). They been in America for so long that they probably forgot their ancestors mother country. Up here in Chicago area, most whites know their European ancestry, especially the Polish, Irish, Italians, and Greeks. From my experience, most whites up here will tell you an European nationality before plain old American.
One of my co-workers in Houston went to New Jersey for a few years in elementary school She was perplexed when she was asked her nationality. Her family were ranchers, they were from the ranch.
bek american culture is over 500 years old? recognized the world over except in america?
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too funny) and responded to the woman by saying this is her country and told her she would go back to her country if that woman went back to her trailer park. Two wrongs don't make a right, but she wanted to point out that if she was going to get stereotyped, she was going to throw another stereotype back at the woman. My friend continued by saying that she even spoke better English than the southern woman b/c fixin' and ya'll aren't even in the dictionary and are not proper English words. Haha! I said, "Good for you!" and laughed b/c that was the funniest story I had heard in a long time. Life is way too short for all this hatred in the world!
