Tennessee southern?

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Smtchll

Just curious. Which of those other places is most similar to Memphis?

None of them. Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham are full of transplants in addition to being one of the most educated regions of the country, it comes with a totally different vibe.

St. Louis and Chicago are both very midwestern blue collar type cities. Metro St. Louis has almost 3 million people. Metro Chicago has over 9 million. Compare to Memphis 1.3 million There is no comparison with none of them

[Brian]

I have always thought Memphis was part of the Deep South.

[Pearlbob]

Alabama, Georgia, southeast MS - that's the deep south. Memphis is midsouth (whatever that means). Definitely not what people consider "deep south" though.

Originally Posted by Brian

I have always thought Memphis was part of the Deep South.

[strumpeace]

Those designations originally applied to the prominence of slavery. Those states that were completely dependent upon slavery were 'Deep South' (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana). The Mid-South states, which were somewhat dependent upon slavery but which had large segments with minimal--if any--slavery were Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and arguably Virginia. The Border states were considered Southern at the time but had ended their dependence on slavery long before the Civil War, though slavery still existed to some extent up to the mid-19th century; the Border States were Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. States like Florida and Texas were difficult to classify.

That being said, Memphis proper was dependent upon house servants, but not field servants. (Thus, Memphis' leaders put up very little struggle when the Union army came to town, and Memphis was spared the humiliation of being burned down like some other Southern cities.)

So back to the old Deep, Mid, Border dispute -- Tennessee is a Mid-South state and Memphis is a Mid-South city (perhaps the very definition of the Mid-South city).

There you have it.