Southern United States: Difference between revisions

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* The most recent shift in "Southern" cultural influence and demographics has occurred in North Carolina. As recently as the mid-1980s, this was a very entrenched "Southern" state culturally and demographically (for example, the prominence of extremely conservative politicians such as former Senator [[Jesse Helms]]). However, many newcomers have transformed the landscape since then. Many are from the Northeast and especially from the [[New York City]] and [[Cleveland]] metropolitan areas. Much of this migration has occurred in the [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] and [[Raleigh]]-[[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]] areas because of economic growth (banking/finance in Charlotte's case, high-tech in Raleigh-Durham's); and the [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] area by retirees who a generation ago might have moved to Florida but prefer the climatic balance produced by the combination of a relatively high elevation and a southerly latitude. The most extreme example of this is found in [[Cary, North Carolina]], a suburb in the Raleigh-Durham area that has exploded in population since 1980, almost exclusively with Northern transplants to the region. Cary has even been turned into an [[backronym]] by locals: "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees". Politically, the state is still conservative (the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 presidential election]] was easily won by [[George W. Bush]], though early exit polling had the race much closer than initially expected), but in the Raleigh-Durham area and to a lesser extent the Charlotte area, "Southern" accents are becoming less common; and urban areas in central North Carolina (like Raleigh-Durham and the [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]]-[[Winston-Salem]]-[[High Point]] "Piedmont Triad" area) have experienced the fastest rise in [[Latino]] and Asian American population of any part of the Southeast during recent years.{{fact}} To a lesser degree, the same effect is occurring in the [[Atlanta metropolitan area]].

*Kentucky, at the confluence of the Upper South and the Midwest, served as an important [[Border states (Civil War)|Border State]] during the Civil War and has long exhibited great cultural variety across different regions of the state. For example, the culture of [[Northern Kentucky]] is more [[Midwestern]] than Southern, as this region is culturally and economically attached to [[Cincinnati]]. Conversely, [[Southern Indiana]] is more Southern than it is [[Midwestern]], as it is culturally and—particularly in south central Indiana—economically attached to [[Louisville, Kentucky]]; Louisville is often referred todescribed as "the northernmost Southern city and southernmost Northern city." Other cities in the state such as [[Lexington, KY|Lexington]], [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]], [[Bowling Green, KY|Bowling Green]], and [[Paducah, KY|Paducah]] have tended to remain much more distinctly Southern in character.

*[[Southern Illinois]], notably ([[Little Egypt (region)|Little Egypt]] and [[Buda, Illinois|Buda]]), forms a coherent cultural region with the [[Missouri Bootheel]], east Missouri, and Kentucky's [[Jackson Purchase|Purchase]]. This does not mean that it is Southern in culture, but that it shares more in common with these border regions than with the [[Upper Midwest]].