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north, south, east, west, it''s all america and us as americans can choose where we want to live.. The majority of us aren't native american, so we all invaded included the southerners, just not as late as the northerners who came in through Ellis Island. So your point is pointless.
Why should someone who was born somewhere with no control have to live there if they dislike it there... This isn't Cuba.
Southerners think we northerners complain about the south too much. Jeesh, how much of your own medicine do you need to feel equal.
No one in the North cares about the civil war. Personally, I like being a multiple generation westerner. Southerners don't know what category to put us in. The southern "culture" isn't much to write home about.
I thought it would be obvious that "assimilate" in this context means make a concious attempt to get along with new neighbors and accept that one is in a different environment and region. You (or anyone else) is free to come South and live...and doing so doesn't mean one has to adopt every facet of Southern culture. Too, as I said in the post you refer to, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with constructive critisism within the limits of good manners and tact. But it is up to the newcomer to learn these sometimes unwritten rules of what constitues such.
After all, if I moved to the NE or California, I would still be a Texan/Southerner. And still think of myself as such. At the same time, I hope I would refrain from telling the natives how they were doing it all wrong, or how backward they were, or how much better it was elsewhere, or whatever. I mean, I would be coming into their home. It would be up to me to at least try to conform to certain established customs of social interaction and all.
If one can't do that? And has nothing but contempt for the culture/history/accent/etc of their new locale (South or otherwise), then don't complain when you aren't exactly greeted and welcomed with open arms.
Are you suggesting one cannot speak proper English WITH a Southern accent? Hmmmmm. Anyway, no, you won't be an outcast unless such is your premise. Which it seems to be.
I have read the post. Obviously though, Doctor (is that title PhD, honorary or self-bestowed ) you haven't...or else missed the clear distinctions made within. So no, I don't wonder that. The genre which have contempt for the South usually bring it down with them. The northerners I've met? Which ones? The ones described above, or the ones who are my friends (both cyber and real time) and neighbors?
My family has been in Virginia since the late 17th Century, some eventually moving into western (West) Virginia in the early 19th Century. One was an Ulster-Scot who fought in the Revolutionary War, and his grandsons fought for the Confederacy. Another part of my family met the boats, you might say.
No one in the North cares about the civil war. Personally, I like being a multiple generation westerner. Southerners don't know what category to put us in. The southern "culture" isn't much to write home about.
And you know we spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what category to put you in. It's a matter of great importance to southerners.
Northerners who enjoy history care about the Civil War, just like southerners who enjoy history. There are, of course, a smaller number who carry it too far and seem obsessed with it...but most of us are just normal people with varied interests. I get into history and historical trivia, so the Civil War is of general interest to me - but not nearly on the level of many other historical events and people.
Three of my great-great uncles fought for the south in the Civil War. My mother is from MA. I have over 1200 relatives in the New England area, 1000 relatives in the South and at least 500 in the Mid-West. The Civil War ended over 100 years ago. Get over it.
For the most part we up here in the North don't give a gray rats arse where somebody is from when they move in. We sure don't care it somebody from "the South" moves in.
Furthermore, it is a flawed comparison. Northerners are currently migrating southward, in some places significantly changing the land, the people, the attitudes. I could be wrong.. have southerners been flooding your area of Michigan over the past few decades?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomDot
There were 9 million people in the South at the start of the Civil War. 3 million of those were slaves.
I would hazard to guess that most current Southerners have very little connection to that era. I could be wrong.
We have no way of knowing for certain.. but in terms of both black and white southerners, I believe an ancestor arriving after 1860 would be a relatively late migration. I have no way of knowing about the population at large, but I have done extensive research on my own family, and the majority of my European ancestors arrived between 1650 and 1750, with the later waves from 1750-1850. I can only find one relative who emigrated from Europe after the Civil War, and that is an Irishman who came in the 1880's. I don't think I'm unusual, I believe this would be a fairly normal ancestral migration pattern for a southern WASP.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Both of my mother and father's direct ancestors have been not only in Kentucky but the exact county where they were born since the late 1700s. My mom's side received most of Casey County KY has a land grant for service in the Revolutionary War. My dad's side has been in Harlan County KY since at least 1815, where my ancestor was HC's first lawyer
I live in the North and I only know the history of two of my ancestors. One came here in the 1840's from Ireland and one came in the early 1790's from France. If you could afford passage to America from France at that time then chances are words like "let them eat cake" might have come out of your mouth.
I put very little stock in where I come from. The fact is I am descended from thousands of people and I am quite sure that there are several ancestors of mine whom I would be better off never knowing who they are or what they did.
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) you haven't...or else missed the clear distinctions made within. So no, I don't wonder that. The genre which have contempt for the South usually bring it down with them. The northerners I've met? Which ones? The ones described above, or the ones who are my friends (both cyber and real time) and neighbors? 
