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All cities in Texas, from El Paso to Brownsville and Houston to Lubbock, are part of the South. The South is a geographical area defined culturally by what is located within it, not the other way around.
2) The "South" is a large geographic region with many sub regions.
I would say there's a soft "Southern /Mexican border" that spans from Houston to College Station to Waco to DFW. Houston is the largest and most southern metro. DFW is southern, but southern with a lot of great plains and midwest vibes. Houston and DFW have relatively large historically black populations.
How could you walk around Oak Cliff or even Deep Ellum and think you're in the Midwest rather than South?
Maybe not Oak Cliff or Deep Ellum, but the northern areas of Dallas and it's suburbs for sure have a little bit of a Midwestern/Great Plains suburban vibe to them. Even by design, the DFW northern suburbs are built like Midwestern suburbs. One of the few differences are the houses in DFW all have fences rather than no fence or a natural buffer like in the Midwest.
Maybe not Oak Cliff or Deep Ellum, but the northern areas of Dallas and it's suburbs for sure have a little bit of a Midwestern/Great Plains suburban vibe to them. Even by design, the DFW northern suburbs are built like Midwestern suburbs. One of the few differences are the houses in DFW all have fences rather than no fence or a natural buffer like in the Midwest.
I was at a bar in Richardson and I heard mostly moderate to thick Southern accents (from the majority of people in there, even the ones as young as me).
Ironically, I had an in depth conversation with a woman there and she immediately spotted me as an outsider because I sound Midwestern to her (I'm from New York).
Next we are going to argue that New York and Boston aren't NE, because the people there have a historically unique accent, and theirs a high immigrant population. Hell, a significant percent of NYC can speak Spanish, by all definitions NYC, is actually Southwestern.
Now in what way is Texas not "Southern".
1. Geography, now while geography shapes culture, humans outside of Native Americans haven't spent long enough in America for the major geographical cultural influences to play a role (hunter-gatherers vs. subsistence farming). Geography is not culture.
2. Ranching, sorry to break it to you, but their are significantly more cows in the South than the SW, and Ranching at best signifies a Great Plains cultural influence. Yes, theirs's more Ranches than Farms in the SW, but acting as if cow culture isn't a decently sized part of Southern culture ignores reality.
3. Latino people. While their is certainly Latino influence, in Texas, since Texas became a state, Latinos only cracked 25% of the population for the first time in the 1990s. Texas was historically 7-15% Latino pre-1960, and this percentage only rises dramatically, roughly 100 years earlier in the 1860s. Before this, a majority of the population was White and Black Southerners, to the point that in 1960, Texas's black population was nearly double it's Latino one. This is pretty much, a higher percentage than any state not named New Mexico, and so it plays a role, but it's presence doesn't make Texas Southwestern.
Mexicans were either dominant when the Southwest was empty or a large and obvious minority in that region. The majority of folks that lived in America, of Mexican descent, lived in Texas. By that token, the Southwest having a large Hispanic population today, has little to do with the culture that formed there. Although, plenty of Mexicans historically created that cowboy culture and were a part of it, the region was barren, compared to even Texas, which was also largely empty.
Last edited by NigerianNightmare; 06-22-2021 at 07:10 PM..
Is kinda weird judging a city by a portion of its burbs. But DFW has some powerful burbs.
Either way DFW seems southern to me
I think only 10% of DFW population is in Dallas. So yea, they have really powerful suburbs that tend to run conservative. Alot of their kids that can't get into UT actually attend SEC schools.
Next we are going to argue that New York and Boston aren't NE, because the people there have a historically unique accent, and theirs a high immigrant population. Hell, a significant percent of NYC can speak Spanish, by all definitions NYC, is actually Southwestern.
Now in what way is Texas not "Southern".
1. Geography, now while geography shapes culture, humans outside of Native Americans haven't spent long enough in America for the major geographical cultural influences to play a role (hunter-gatherers vs. subsistence farming). Geography is not culture.
2. Ranching, sorry to break it to you, but their are significantly more cows in the South than the SW, and Ranching at best signifies a Great Plains cultural influence. Yes, theirs's more Ranches than Farms in the SW, but acting as if cow culture isn't a decently sized part of Southern culture ignores reality.
3. Latino people. While their is certainly Latino influence, in Texas, since Texas became a state, Latinos only cracked 25% of the population for the first time in the 1990s. Texas was historically 7-15% Latino pre-1960, and this percentage only rises dramatically, roughly 100 years earlier in the 1860s. Before this, a majority of the population was White and Black Southerners, to the point that in 1960, Texas's black population was nearly double it's Latino one. This is pretty much, a higher percentage than any state not named New Mexico, and so it plays a role, but it's presence doesn't make Texas Southwestern.
Mexicans were either dominant when the Southwest was empty or a large and obvious minority in that region. The majority of folks that lived in America, of Mexican descent, lived in Texas. By that token, the Southwest having a large Hispanic population today, has little to do with the culture that formed there. Although, plenty of Mexicans historically created that cowboy culture and were a part of it, the region was barren, compared to even Texas, which was also largely empty.
Excellent post. People seem to forget that a large chunk of Texas's Latino population is the result of recent immigration from Latin America.
Plus the fact that being Latino doesn't mean you're inherently non-Southern
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