Who do you think of when you think of Famous Southerners?

In My Humble Opinion
1

For a project I’m working on, who are some of the faces that come to mind immediately when you think Famous Southerners? They can be real or fictional, male or female, human or non.

For me, in no particular order, naming the first three of each:

MALE
Robert E. Lee
Foghorn Leghorn
Elvis

I thought of adding Mark Twain, but whether or not Missouri counts as Southern is too open to debate. Personally I count it as Southern from 1835-1861 [when he lived there] but not as much today.

FEMALE
Scarlett O’Hara (as portrayed by Vivien Leigh of course)
Dolly Parton
Fannie Flagg

How 'bout y’all? Who do you think of?

2

Male:
William Faulkner
Robert E. Lee

Female:
Blanche Dubois
Scarlett O’Hara

3

Truman Capote
Tennessee Williams
Atticus Finch
Loretta Lynn
Jimmy Carter

4

What does it say about me, having been born and bred in the heart of the deep South, that the first “Famous Southerner” I thought of was Colonel Sanders?

Male:
Colonel Sanders. D’oh!
Robert E. Lee
John C. Calhoun
Hank Williams

Female:
Dolly Parton
Mammy, the Gone with the Wind one
Mary Chesnut

That’s a weird list, but it’s what sprang from my head. Seriously, Mary Chesnut? <shrug>

5

Robert E. Lee and other generals are the only ones that come to mind.

6

Martin Luther King, Jr
Jimmy Carter
George Wallace

Oprah Winfrey
Reese Witherspoon
Rosa Parks

Do we get to include Texas? 'Cause that could easily make this a book-length list.

7

Male : Boss Hogg, Robert E. Lee ( the General not the car ), Rhett Butler

Female : Scarlett O’Hara, Rogue of the X-Men

8

Oddly enough, Mark Twain was the first to spring to mind for me also. It must be the white suit.

Male:
Mark Twain
Robert E. Lee
Jimmy Carter

Female:
Scarlett O’Hara
Eudora Welty
Dolly Parton

9

L.B.J.

Flannery O’Connor

10

Dolly Parton

11

Colonel Sanders
Boss Hog
Jimmy Carter

Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Are there others that are southern women?
Mother Mabel
Lauretta Lynn

12

Guys

Jeff Foxworthy (?!?)
Johnny Cash
Morgan Freeman

Gals

June Carter Cash
Pat Fordice
Mary Ann Mobley

13

Male: Bubba, the Eternal Bubba

Female: Buckhead Betty (basically, when Carrie Fisher is force-fed on Scarlett O"Hara like a goose until her liver explodes)

14

William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Margaret Mitchell were the first three that I thought of.

15

Male:
Bear Bryant
George Washington
Elvis Presley
George Kell
Ernie Harwell
Snuffy Smith

Female:
Lady Bird Johnson

16

R.E. Lee, Jeff Foxworthy, Paula Deen, Roy Blount Jr., Tennessee Williams, Andie McDowell, Pat Conroy…okay, 7 oughta do it.

The clear trend here is that when most of us think of a Southerner we think of a white Anglo-Celtic male. Discuss?

17

Col. Sanders and Loretta Lynn.

18

Joe South
Virginia Woolf
Terry Southern
Florida Evans
Georgia O’Keefe
Tennessee Williams

I don’t think of:

Ollie North
Sen. John East
Kanye West
Dakota Fanning
Hannah Montana
Nevada Bob

19

Sampiro!

20

Forrest Gump
Robert E Lee
Mark Twain
William Faulkner
Strom Thurmond
Bear Bryant

Harper Lee
Scarlett O’Hara
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Delta Burke (?!)