To outsiders, the American South is an odd collection of peoples and cultures – often portrayed by negative stereotypes of rednecks, the Ku Klux Klan, the Confederate Flag and Deliverance. To Southerners, the South is "Home, sweet, home. Wanna make something of it?"
Often pegged as a breeding ground for homophobia and racism ¹, the South has had undergone some cultural reformation in the past few years with an influx of influence from Hispanics, African-Americans, old people and others who have moved in recently. Having once seceded from the United States ², some anti-Northern sentiment still exists. Visiting Northerners might still be lucky enough to hear "Yankee go home" if they play their cards right.
The true culture of the South still remains in its small towns - tight-knit communities where everyone knows each other. Some villages still have a general store where the old men sit outside in rocking chairs and play checkers on an old cider barrel while discussing the weather and politics. Such towns are becoming more rare as the customs of days gone by are abandoned for a faster pace of life. Alas, metropolitan areas are growing quickly as people move to the South for its warm climate.
From the shipyards of Virginia to the corn and tobacco farms of the Carolinas to the old people industry of Florida to Atlanta’s banking power, the economic power of the South sits with its many industries – both old and new. Exports from the South include the Blues, country music, lawn mower racing, Phillip Morris tobacco and foods, Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck jokes, fried pickles, the KKK, kudzu, gun racks, Lynyrd Skynyrd, NASCAR auto racing, Elvis and, consequently, Elvis impersonators.
If you find yourself in the South, be sure to visit the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, the site of the Olympic Park bombing (also in Atlanta), Yee Haw Junction in Florida, Graceland ³, the Jerry Lee
Family Museum in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Carl's Corner town/truck stop in Texas.
States that comprise the South include: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Texas – unless you consider it a sovereign nation as some do.