When most Americans think of southern Americans, they think of the states in the southeastern United States (North/South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama). But are Texas and Louisiana (Oklahoma and Arkansas if you consider them southern too) considered different types of southerners or are all southern states looked upon the same regardless of which side of the Mississippi?
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The Southwest is considered very culturally distinct, yes. All the territory that used to be Mexico has a unique character.
I’ve never heard of any widely held impression that the Mississippi River is a dividing line between two types of southerner, no.
No. People are migratory and we don’t have blocks of culture defined by rivers or other landforms.
I def consider Louisiana and Arkansas as southerners. Texas and Oklahoma no, that’s more cowboy style
Cajun culture is different from Appalachian culture and Southwest culture is different from the Southeast culture. Texas culture is Texas culture
In my book, southern states are the former Confederate states plus Oklahoma, West Virginia and Kentucky. Three of those states are west of the Mississippi, so I’d say the characterization is more cultural that strictly geographical
> Is there a difference in southern states/people east and west of the Mississippi?
Absolutely, as I learned to my amazement when I moved from the Los Angeles area to Raleigh.
Just as there is a real difference, culturally speaking, from the South (the traditional South) and the South-Western part of the United States, which is strongly influenced by Mexican and American-Indian influences.
I don’t think the river defines us, but there are differences. Someone from south Louisiana is different from someone from south Texas; even though they may be on the same side of the river.
Food is different, language is different, culture is different; but it’s not because of the river.
Yes, but I don’t think the river has much to do with it compared to migration in the context of historical events
yes, there is, but it’s limited to LA and TX (Arkansas isn’t that different in the way those two are)
This might be helpful
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_South#People
Well there is “Dixie South” The Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia. Then you have Appalachia (Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, and Arkansas), Louisiana Cajan, then Texas, and Florida are their own thing.
Well there’s the Deep South (MS, AL, GA, and maybe TN) but I’d consider Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and North Carolina definitely being southern. With Florida and Texas it’s like a specific region of them is ‘southern’
I grew up in Texas (Dallas and Austin areas) but my mom is from Tennessee, so I’ve spent time in both areas. There’s a distinct cultural difference between Texas and southern states east of Texas like Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc.
Because Texas used to be part of Mexico (and due to its proximity to Mexico in general), it has a lot of Mexican cultural influence. It’s evident in street/city names, food, sometimes even architecture (there are Catholic cathedrals and missions still standing in Texas that date back to when Texas was still part of Mexico). People of Latino descent make up almost 40% of the state’s population. Another example is that I grew up eating Mexican food/Tex Mex. It was second nature to know what enchiladas, queso, tamales, etc. were. When I’d visit family in Tennessee, I remember them calling queso “cheese dip.” As a Texan, when I travel to states like California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc. a lot of the culture feels familiar to me because of the commonality of Mexican/southwestern influences.
Texas has more of a cowboy/Wild West heritage that’s connected to the Southwestern US than a southern plantation heritage like in the Southeast. As the US expanded further west, many people looking for wide open spaces settled in Texas to start ranches. I remember as a kid in the Dallas area, I took a field trip to the nearby Ft. Worth Stockyards and saw a cattle drive, took pictures with a longhorn, went to a historic restaurant that had the classic “Wild West” saloon doors, went to a museum about pioneers/covered wagons, etc. You don’t see things like that in the Southeast.
Texas has shared history with both the southeast and the southwest, which makes sense, due to it being centrally located. I think that calling it southwest actually describes it well, because it has influences from both the south and the west. I think that most people in Texas don’t consider themselves to be southern but instead Texan. Because Texas is so massive, its own culture has been created out of southeast, southwest, and Mexican influences.
I consider Louisiana and Arkansas to be 100% southern culturally. I put Oklahoma in a similar category to Texas.
“If you consider Arkansas southern”
I don’t think I’ve ever met a person or seen a government agency/company not consider Arkansas a part of the south lol. Are there people who say otherwise..?
It really depends on the area. The eastern part of Texas, northern Louisiana, and Arkansas are very similar to southern states east of the Mississippi. Central and West Texas and Oklahoma are different. As a South Carolinian who has been living in east Texas for almost 25 years, if you could relocate any east Texas town to Alabama or Mississippi, you would be hard pressed to tell it was out of place.
Hauling coors east of the Mississippi is boot leggin’
There’s definitely a difference between southern regions but I’m not sure it’s the Mississippi that splits it.
As a Texan I’m always forgetting some folks consider Virginia part of the south…. (Or even Maryland or Delaware… absolutely not) Although many say Texas isn’t a southern state but a Southwestern state.
I think there’s a cultural difference between Tennessee, the Carolinas, Kentucky and West Virginia vs. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas.
Florida & Texas are outliers. Part of Texas is similar to the deep south. The other half is more similar to New Mexico. Florida is… well, the Panhandle is just an extended Alabama.
There are ways we all overlap for sure (historically confederate states, highly religious Protestant areas, high poverty levels, lots of rural areas) but there are also difference in accents, food, landscape and culture for sure.
I grew up between Houston and Beaumont and West Virginia feels like a different country.