Trying to separate individual people according to their cultural attitudes is hopeless. In any region of the U.S., no matter how much you think there is a typical set of cultural beliefs, there will be some people whose beliefs are completely different. Concentrate on just the definition of the land area itself. The closest to a standard definition of the socio-cultural-economic regions of North America is found in Joel Garreau’s 1981 book The Nine Nations of North America:
The area usually thought of as the South is what Garreau calls “Dixie.” It includes all of the states of Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It includes some of the eastern portions of Oklahoma and Texas, the southern half of Missouri, a bit of the southern portion of Indiana, much of Virginia, most of northern Florida, and a bit of Maryland (the Eastern Shore). Note that it doesn’t include a lot of southern Florida, nor does it include the Washington, D.C. area (so it doesn’t include nearly all of Maryland, nor does it include any of Virginia within about fifty miles of D.C.).
A more recent attempt at the same thing is this one, but I’m a little dubious about it:
So, what should we be calling people from the South who don’t fit whatever stereotype you (or your fictional reporter) have in mind, if “Southerner” is out? Southrons? Southies?
Well, now this is GD so I feel nervous. Ok. If someone asked me where I was from, I would say the South (god knows it’s better than saying ‘Mississippi’). So it’s not like I hate it here or I hate Southerners or something. I like the South. But I don’t define myself by it. Like, my stepmother has pillows and tee shirts and shit with phrases about “Southern Belles” on them, and that is NOT me. I am not a Southern belle. I don’t like the Confederate flag, and I think less of people displaying one. I don’t watch football or NASCAR and I don’t own any guns. I do not think that if the South woulda won, we’d a had it made, nor do I think the South will rise again. I don’t even think it was great the first time.
I am from the South, and I think it’s as good a place as any other. People are people everywhere. It’s my home, and for that reason it’s special of me. But I don’t consider it better than any other place. I’m not proud of being here, but neither am I ashamed.
I’m from the South. A Southerner is someone (in my opinion) who, to a degree, defines themselves by the place of their birth. And many of them are right to! It’s a huge part of their identity! And some of them are my beloved family, so I’m not saying they’re bad to do it. I’m just saying, that’s not me.
I feel like I said a lot and still didn’t explain what I meant.
eta: re-reading my post, I said I wasn’t ashamed to be from the South, but also earlier I said I didn’t like telling people I’m from Mississippi and it occurs to me that that sounds like a contradiction. But the reason I hate saying I’m from Mississippi isn’t shame; it’s that people are ignorant assholes. I’ve had people ask me if I own shoes. Seriously. So now I try to sidestep that.
I’ve seen people of every ethnicity describe themselves as Southern, or as Good Ol’ Boys, or Rednecks, and I’ve seen people of every ethnicity wear Confederate flags. No kidding. It’s not super duper common, but it absolutely happens.
One place whose “Southernness” is sometimes questioned is Northern Virginia. From a historical context, it is unquestionably Southern and was actually a major tobacco industry hub for a long time with farmers from all over hauling their quality smokes to Alexandria for sale and shipping to the four corners of the Earth, but the demographics changed rapidly around WW2. Robert E. Lee lived in Arlington.
I’m not really interested in their personalities or whether or not they like to drive Nascars in circles. Based on the OP’s descriptions alone, they’re all Southerners except the Floridians. They’re Floridians.
Raised in Texas all my life. I’ve noticed that when one is referred to as from “East Texas” it’s implied they’re a Southerner (many of the early settlers in that area were from the South and carried several customs–slavery included–with them).
The more you move West it starts becoming “Southwest.”
Heritage may be a factor. El Paso Historian Leon Metz Once mentioned in a broadcast that while most non-native settlers in East Texas were Southerners, the farther West you move you’ll start to see Midwesterners pop up on the trading trails (Missouri was one of the trail points).
