A Response to the "New South": Alexis Noel

The image of the "old south" is regularly painted in popular movies, depicting slaves working on plantations and white men and women sipping minty beverages slowly growing fat. Yet, how often do we hear about the "new south"? I'm sure if we were to ask a foreigner the first image that pops in their mind when we say "Southern America", they will probably say "Scarlett O'Hara". What kind of reputation is our southern home getting?

The "new south" began its rise after the Civil War, pushing men of all ages and race to delve into manual labor: planting crops, fixing cotton machines etc. However, the south has changed drastically. Although it has its quirks you can not find anywhere else (like sweet tea), many of the populated areas have meshed into northern similarities.

While the media may still be portraying the south as "old-fashioned" and "outdated", the one topic that has grown and thrived among southerners is politics. The south has always been generally Republican, and passionately so. Did these political views sprout from the ideas of the "new south", of being independent from those of higher power?

Jon Meacham comments on southern politics during the 2008 election: "The American South, to borrow a phrase from the caricature cupboard, just ain't that different anymore. It was once, but the Civil War is the exception that proves the rule that the South tends not to contradict but to exemplify, if sometimes in an exaggerated way, what much of the nation thinks and feels. Understanding America's politics, then, requires understanding the South's—which is one reason why declaring the 2008 presidential election over is to make the same mistake the hotheads at the barbecue in "Gone With the Wind" did when they thought they could whip the Union forces in short order.." [1]

As viewed below, it is obvious that the south has conservative views [2]:


Is it possible that the ideas of manual labor gave rise to conservative ideas? To ride off of political stereotypes, the south wanted more power to the working man rather than socialist agendas? The "new south" ideologies certainly point in that direction.