Why Americans are SO CONFUSED Over Which States are Southern | What is the South?

On this video we discuss the debate that persists among Americans as to which states are and aren't a part of the South.

Sources:

[dirtycommie]

As someone that grew up in DC and MD, to this day, I'm convinced "Mid-Atlantic" was coined because nobody outside of this region could agree on which "side" we belonged to. I've heard New Yorkers refer to Maryland as "down south" and we already know what the deep south thinks of this region. There's no winning. We are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

[highgrounder]

As a Southerner myself, ain’t no way anybody calling Maryland or Delaware “Southern”. I’d personally include Virginia and WV, but that’s not universal. Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida are as Southern as you can get except Miami, that’s really just Cuba outside Cuba

[kytoaltoky]

I like a county-based view of the south. Southern Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma are far more 'Southern' than Western Maryland and Northern Kentucky, for example.

[meganmccullough]

As a Mississippian who now lives in D.C., I was surprised to find just how Southern a city D.C. is. Is it the South, no, but there are definite strains of southern culture that exist here.

[lilcuh]

As someone from the South, when I went the DMV area, it definitely felt way more northern than southern

[philetaerus]

I had a sociology class in college with John Shelton Reed, a professor who specialized in "the South". Based on a lot of different factors, like the ones you discussed in this video, he drew a map of the South with gradients of shading. The Deep South all the way up to North Carolina was the most "southern". East Texas and northern Florida were still largely southern, but south Florida and west Texas were hardly southern at all.

[michaelbarnett]

As a native Floridian, I would agree that the further south you go in the state, the less southern in culture it gets. However, the interior portions of south Florida are more traditionally southern than the coastal areas. Good breakdown overall of the differences between N and S.

[d.c.cheever]

I grew up in South Florida. I remember going up to Northern Florida with a friend and his family to go camping in some of the natural springs. We went to a big lake and were swimming with the locals. The local kids from there heard us talk and our accent and heard the word "dude" and immediately asked if we were from California. I was so confused lol. I didn't realize the cultural divide even within the same state. But yeah Northern/Southern Florida are completely different beasts.

[devinmathews]

The "boundaries" of any given region simply cannot follow state borders. Even the historical civil war line is no longer entirely defining.

[RCooke]

I absolutely agree with you that the south starts at Virginia and ends when you go into DC and Maryland. I was also born and raised in NC and yes, it is the south.

[LemonalSlice]

Being from West Virginia is a little silly in terms of the north/south argument. WV split from VA over slavery so most people here really don't like using the term south, BUT most people will agree we're definitely not northern from a cultural standpoint. Many of the people I talk to around here just call it Appalachia, and we tend to see ourselves as weirdly disconnected from other surrounding states, as if we're this secret 3rd option.

[SjordancolePremium]

I live in CLT and grew up in the DMV, this was such a comprehensive, accurate and thoughtful video, great job.

[alexfoster]

As someone who grew up and still live in the Florida Panhandle, I definitely agree the Panhandle and everything north of Gainesville is definitely the south. Once you pass Gainesville the culture, population and infrastructure seems more northern. Those of us who live in Panama City often say we live in Lower Alabama rather than Florida.

[alchapo]

The South:
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
- Louisiana
- West Virginia
- Florida (especially the north)

The DEEP South
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- South Carolina

The Appalachian South
- West Virginia
- Virginia
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- North Carolina

South/Midwest hybrid
- Missouri
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma

South/South West hybrid
- Texas

South/Latin America hybrid
- Florida (Cuba, PR)
- Texas (Mexico)

Definitely not the south
- Maryland
- Delaware
- Washington DC

[washuotaku]

People not from the South tend to think negatively about the South in general. So when they relocate to a place in the South, they justify it by claiming it is not actually the South. Mental gymnastics basically. Personally, I go with the Census definition; the South is not a monolith, its many things.

[prototropo]

This is an authoritative, fascinating, well-balanced channel with a great narrator.

[JasonTaylor-poxc]

If you base it on culture, which is really how I look at the South - then you can't exclusively use state boarders. I agree with you that Florida is a mix - transitioning somewhere around Ocala into something less Southern and into something unique. For Texas, it's really like 3-4 regions (big state) - Great Plains, West Texas, Rio Grande and East Texas (south).

[chrisalley]

A few years ago, some researchers found the new Mason Dixon line by finding the McDonalds that did not serve sweet tea. That line goes right through the middle of VA, just north of Richmond.

[kellz]

From MD but have lived in the north and south. MD has very little in common south and I believe traditional southern culture really starts in Richmond now. Northern VA has lost it's southern culture..

[BananaPhoPhilly]

That map putting Delaware in the south is wild lol