7 things I learned WHILE DRIVING through THE AMERICAN SOUTH

Last Updated: 03/16/20 | March 16th, 2020

The American South has a mixed reputation: it’s home to sweet tea, greasy but delicious food, country music, the blues, friendly and valuable people, and stunning and diverse landscapes. However, it’s also associated with guns, racists, bigots, rednecks, and is the subject of many other negative stereotypes.

The first time I visited the South was in 2006 on a road trip across the United States.

As a liberal Yankee, I wanted the negative stereotypes to be true and my beliefs to be validated. Instead, I found an incredible region of valuable people, a countryside dotted with rolling hills, farms, and forests, and hearty food rich in flavor. From Charleston to new Orleans and everything in between, the South was extraordinary.

Now, nine years later, on another road trip through the South, I wondered if it would provoke the same warm feelings. America is a more politically divided country and I was unsure what to expect.

The South has drifted to the right politically, and I wondered about heated debates about “that president,” gay rights, guns, and more.

Would I feel like a stranger in a strange land?

After spending months exploring the region, I realized that the southern states, encompassing a large area of the United States, are not as culturally and politically monolithic as they once were. There is a prodigious variety here, and the region left me with many impressions.

1. The Food will Make You Happy

Food plays a central role in southern life and is rich in both flavor and diversity. Each region has its own specialties — barbecue in Missouri, Memphis, and North Carolina; Creole food and oysters in new Orleans; Cajun food on the Bayou; fried chicken in Nashville; the growing organic food scene in Atlanta; and upscale dining in Oxford, Mississippi.

I pictured southern food as greasy, fried, and heavy fare. While much of it is hearty, the richness in flavor and variety was outstanding. There is something for everyone, and if you go hungry while visiting, it’s your own fault.

2. music Makes the region Go ’Round

Music is a way of life here. The sound of live music filled the air everywhere. Nashville, Memphis, and new Orleans are famous music haunts, but even the tiniest towns have robust live music scenes. From jazz to country to blues to bluegrass, there’s a music soul to this region. I danced, jammed, and sang, and it was wonderful.

3. The people really are Friendly

There’s a common belief that the South is home to the friendliest people in the country. I’m not sure I believe that, but I would agree that Southerners are certainly friendly. They are cheerful, talkative, and incredibly helpful. Strangers waved hello, inquired about my day, were quick with invites for drinks, and generally made an effort to make me feel welcome. The folks here have hospitality down to an art.

Plus, they seem to have an endless supply of sweet tea and I can’t get enough of that stuff!

4. The Landscape is Stunning

The southern landscape is stunning and diverse. The Smoky Mountains are a vast, dense forest filled with inviting rivers, lakes, and trails. The Louisiana bayou is haunting with moss-covered trees and eerie calm. The hills of Appalachia stretch for wooded miles, and the whole Mississippi Delta, with its swamps, marshes, and biodiversity, is gorgeous. and the beaches of Florida are so white they sparkle.

I could spend months hiking and exploring all the parks and rivers in the region. (Mental note to future self: Do that.)

5. To understand It, You have to understand Its Past

As a former high school history teacher (I taught right out of college), I was excited to explore the area’s colonial cities and Civil war sites. Cities like Natchez, Vicksburg, new Orleans, Savannah, Memphis, Richmond, and Charleston helped shape the country, and their history and influence are important to the story of America.

It was in these cities that many American cultural and political leaders were born, the Civil war began, battles were won and lost, the rise and fall of slavery was sown, and many of the biggest names in American cultural history were born.

These cities and their history help explain a lot about southern pride, culture, and current feelings.

6. It’s Politically Conservative

Though the Ashevilles, Nashvilles, Atlantas, Austins, and other big cities of the region have become more liberal (thanks in part to open-minded college students, northern transplants, and hipsters), the rest of the region has moved more to the right for nylig.

Besides country music, radio options seem to consist only of Christian lectures and music or right-wing talk radio warning of immigrants bringing in polio, evil Muslims, and Obama the antichrist. I overheard many conversations about “that guy” (the President) and “queers.” The big cities may be liberal, but in the rest of the South, it’s as conservative som konservativ kan være.

7. Det er racistisk (men det er ikke 1950’erne voldelig racist)

Jeg fandt, at racismen i det moderne syd var mere en “off-the-cuff racisme” end et dybt siddende had. Det var baseret på stereotyper, der holdt sig, fordi de simpelthen blev en vane.

Fra B & B -ejeren, der kom med en offhand -kommentar om jøder til fyrene i Nashville, der talte om, at sorte var arbejdere, fordi “sådan er det,” til folkene i Atlanta, der gør narr af homofile, til college -børn i Mississippi, der fortæller mig racistiske vittigheder (eller synger racistiske sange på busser), de fleste stødte simpelthen som tænkende.

Hvis de blev spurgt, om deres bemærkninger var fordomme, ville de sandsynligvis sige “Nej, det var bare en vittighed.” Men det er stadig meget stødende.

Ingen ser ud til at stille spørgsmålstegn ved disse ideer, hvorfor disse holdninger ser ud til at blive hængende. Betyder det, at jeg tror, ​​at alle er en dybt siddende racist? Nej slet ikke. Jeg tror, ​​at Syden har gjort utrolige fremskridt mod ligestilling og racisme er et problem mange steder. Selvom det var bedre end det plejede at være, er det stadig meget udbredt, og med bevægelsen mod den politiske ret, ser jeg ikke det gå væk når som helst snart.

Jeg havde håbet, at denne stereotype ville vise sig at være forældet, men desværre var det ikke.

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På trods af dets mangler vokser jeg til at elske området mere med hvert besøg. Det er et af de mest kulturelt rige områder i landet. Der er en grund til, at dens byer blomstrer.

Gå og tjek regionen, kom ud af byerne, rejser gennem bjergene og find vej ind i de små byer. Du vil opdage venlige mennesker, himmelsk mad, fantastisk musik og en påskønnelse af et langsomt livstempo.

Rejse nedbryder barrierer og misforståelser omkring mennesker og steder. Jo mere du rejser, jo mere forstår du mennesker (selv når du ikke er enig med dem).

Syden og jeg er måske ikke enig om mange problemer, men det er ikke den region, som de negative stereotyper gør det til. Det er en pulserende, livlig, interessant og venlig del af De Forenede Stater.

Og en region flere mennesker burde lære at kende.

Book din rejse på De Forenede Stater: logistiske tip og tricks
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