User:JCarriker/South

Southern culture is the system of values and traditions that evolved out of various European, African, and Southeastern tribes of Native Americans to form an indigenous culture in the Southern United States.

Southern culture has been and remains generally more socially conservative than that of the north. Due to the central role of agriculture in the antebellum economy, society remained stratified according to land ownership. Rural communities developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.

Religion
The South, perhaps more so than any other industrial culture in the world, is highly religious, resulting in the reference to regions of the South as the "Bible Belt", from its prevalence of evangelical or fundamentalist Protestantism. The region is often stereotyped as being somewhat intolerant to other religious faiths or the non-religious. Southern churches evangelize more than churches in other regions, which many non-Protestants consider hostile, but few southerners question the actual freedom of worship or non-worship. In addition, there are significant Catholic populations in most cities in the South, with larger concentrations in cities such as New Orleans. Cities such as Atlanta and Houston have significant Jewish and Islamic communities. Immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia have brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the region as well.

Southern Dialect
Southern American English is a dialect of the English language spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects (see American English), with speech differing between, for example, the Appalachian region and the coastal area around Charleston, South Carolina. The South Midlands dialect was influenced by the migration of Southern dialect speakers into the American West. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), shares many similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given that group's strong historical ties to the region.

The Southern American English dialect is often stigmatized, as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the Southern dialect.

Cuisine
As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. The variety of cuisines range from Tex-Mex cuisine, Cajun and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina & Memphis styles of Barbecue. Non-alcoholic beverages of choice include "sweet tea," and various soft drinks, many of which had their origins in the South (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Dr Pepper. In many parts of Georgia, Alabama, Texas and other parts of the South, the term "soft drink" is discarded in favor of "Coke"). Lagers and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the predominance of hot climate. Texas is also the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country.

Traditional African-American Southern food is often called "soul food"; in reality there is little difference between the traditional diet of Southerners and the diet in other regions of the U.S. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, so-called "home cooking" establishments.

Literature
The South has a strong literary history. Characteristics of southern literature including a focus on a common southern history, the significance of family, a sense of community and one's role within it, the community's dominating religion and the burden religion often brings, issues of racial tension, land and the promise it brings, and the use of southern dialect.

Perhaps the most famous southern writer is William Faulkner, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to American writings (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying).

Other well-known Southern writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, James Dickey, Willie Morris, Tennessee Williams and Walker Percy. One of the most famous southern novels of the 20th century, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, won the Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 1960.

Music
The South is by far the richest area of music in the United States. The musical heritage of the South was developed by both whites and blacks, both influencing each other directly and indirectly. The South's musical history actually starts before the Civil War, with the songs of the African slaves and the highlands folk music brought from Europe. Blues was developed in the rural South by Blacks at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music, spirituals, country music, rhythm and blues, soul music, bluegrass, jazz (including ragtime, popularized by Southerner Scott Joplin), and Appalachian folk music all were either born in the South or developed in the region. Rock n' roll began in the south as well. Early rock n' roll musicians from the south include Johnny Cash (Arkansas), Buddy Holly (Texas), Bo Diddley (Mississippi), Ray Charles (Georgia), Carl Perkins (Tennessee), Elvis Presley (born in Mississippi, alhough lived in Memphis, Tennessee during his career), and Jerry Lee Lewis (Louisiana) among others. Chuck Berry, the most important early rock n' roll figure along with Elvis, is from St. Louis, Missouri, a state that is sometimes considered Southern, and a city with an undeniable Southern influence, largely due to its large African American population and location on the Mississippi River. Many who got their start in show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton are two such examples. Recently, the spread of rap music (which is arguably the only major American music not started in the South) has lead to the rise of the sub-genre Dirty South, among others.

Sports
The South is known for its love of football. While the South has had a number of Super Bowl winning National Football League teams (such as the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens), the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school and college football teams -- especially the Southeastern Conference and in Texas where high school football, especially in smaller communities, is elevated to near-religion status.

Baseball is also very popular in the South, with Major League Baseball teams like the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins being recent World Series victors. Minor league baseball is also closely followed in the South (with the South being home to more minor league teams than any other region of the United States).

The South is also the birthplace of NASCAR auto racing. Other popular sports in the South include golf (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate) and fishing.

Ironically, the hot-weather Tampa Bay Lightning are the defending National Hockey League champions.

Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Film
The South has contributed to some of the most-loved and financially successful movies of all time, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). The Dukes of Hazzard remains a very popular television show nearly thirty years after its inception. All were filmed in Georgia with other places in the South also featured prominently.