White Southerners

White Southerners, Southrons
Regions with significant populations
Southern United States
Languages
Southern American English, Texan English, Cajun English, Louisiana French, and Spanish
Religion
Christianity[1]
Related ethnic groups
Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Canadians, Cajuns, Louisiana Creole people, Melungeon, Isleños, Melungeons
Early use of white southerner

White Southerners, are White Americans from the Southern United States, originating from the various waves of Northwestern European immigration to the region beginning in the 17th century.[2] A significant motivator in the creation of a unified white Southern identity was white supremacism.[3]

Academic John Shelton Reed argues that "Southerners' differences from the American mainstream have been similar in kind, if not degree, to those of the immigrant ethnic groups".[4][5] Reed states that Southerners, as other ethnic groups, are marked by differences from the national norm, noting that they tend to be poorer, less educated, more rural, and specialize in job occupation. He argues that they tended to differ in cultural and political terms, and that their accents serve as an ethnic marker.[6]

Upon white Southerners Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton being elected to the U.S. presidency during the late 20th century, it symbolized generations of change from an Old South to New South society. Journalist Hodding Carter and State Department spokesperson during the Carter Administration stated: "The thing about the South is that it's finally multiple rather than singular in almost every respect." The transition from President Carter to President Clinton also mirrored the social and economic evolution of the South in the mid-to-late 20th century.[7]

White Southern diaspora populations exist in Brazil and Belize, known respectively as the Confederados and Confederate Belizeans.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Religious Landscape Study".
  2. ^ Watts, Trent A. (2010-09-30). One Homogeneous People: Narratives of White Southern Identity, 1890–1920. Univ. of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-743-5.
  3. ^ Strother, Logan; Piston, Spencer; Ogorzalek, Thomas. "PRIDE OR PREJUDICE?: Racial Prejudice, Southern Heritage, and White Support for the Confederate Battle Flag". Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race. 14 (1): 295–323. doi:10.1017/S1742058X17000017. ISSN 1742-058X.
  4. ^ Reed, John Shelton (1982). One South: An Ethnic Approach to Regional Culture. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0807110386. southerners ethnic group.
  5. ^ Reed, John Shelton (1972). The Enduring South: Subcultural Persistence in Mass Society. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0669810837.
  6. ^ Reed, John Shelton (1993). My Tears Spoiled My Aim, and Other Reflections on Southern Culture. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0826208866. john shelton reed Southerners.
  7. ^ Applebome, Peter (10 November 1992). "From Carter to Clinton, A South in Transition". New York Times. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  8. ^ Pelayo, Phylicia (2020-10-19). "Forest Home Village, Belize: A historic Community". Belize Living Heritage. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
  9. ^ "The Confederacy Made Its Last Stand in Brazil". HISTORY. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2024-11-10.