Midwestern regional identity

[King of Kensington]

Thought this was interesting.  For a long time, the Midwest had a weak regional identity, it was sort of seen as default America.  But perhaps more of a regional identity developed in recent years as the center of the American economy moved out of the Midwest.

Explains Cayton: “Up until the last 30 or 40 years, the Midwest was not a peripheral part of the United States. What we call the Midwest — from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century — truly was the heartland of the United States. It was also the political and economic powerhouse of the United States.

“Region as an identity tends to coalesce in places where people feel alienated or cut off — the South being the classic example. “The fact that the term Midwest came so late to general usage goes to the point that nobody thought it was a particularly distinctive place,” Cayton says. “It’s not meant to be insulting. It’s meant to say, ‘This is America here.’ The South is not really quite America. New England is this old 18th-century place. And the West is way the heck out there. So this is the American heartland. People did not use the term Midwest in a widespread way until they began to think of the Midwest as being peculiar or out of the mainstream.”

https://www.hourdetroit.com/communit...ng-of-midwest/

[It’s so Joever]

If anything I would say it’s the West+ACELA corridor with no regional identity now.

[King of Kensington]

I'm pretty sure the Tri-State and New England have pretty strong regional identities.   DC on the other hand is pretty much the "upscale liberal America" writ large.

[NorCalifornio]

I'm pretty sure the Tri-State and New England have pretty strong regional identities.   DC on the other hand is pretty much the "upscale liberal America" writ large.

Predominantly white, transplant-heavy parts of DC, sure. If you look at black neighborhoods in DC (which until recently constituted the majority of the city), there's definitely a sense of regional identity.

[King of Kensington]

Incidentally, I think a lot of those people who deny any Southernness of DC ignore the Black presence in DC which is quite New South-like imo (both conservatives and liberals seem vested in this "DC is culturally northeastern" argument).  PG County is much more like suburban Atlanta than anything in New York or Boston.

[LabourJersey]

Incidentally, I think a lot of those people who deny any Southernness of DC ignore the Black presence in DC which is quite New South-like imo (both conservatives and liberals seem vested in this "DC is culturally northeastern" argument).  PG County is much more like suburban Atlanta than anything in New York or Boston.

I've asked quote a few people in the DC area this question - do you consider Washington to be a Southern city?

The answers are split on both generational grounds (older people say "Yes" sometimes, younger people uniformly say "No") and on racial grounds (much of the older/middle aged people who say "Yes" are black).

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

But the most affluent parts of the city that people like me (white, college-educated young professionals) live in do not feel Southern and not populated by people who think they're Southern.

[It’s so Joever]

Incidentally, I think a lot of those people who deny any Southernness of DC ignore the Black presence in DC which is quite New South-like imo (both conservatives and liberals seem vested in this "DC is culturally northeastern" argument).  PG County is much more like suburban Atlanta than anything in New York or Boston.

I've asked quote a few people in the DC area this question - do you consider Washington to be a Southern city?

The answers are split on both generational grounds (older people say "Yes" sometimes, younger people uniformly say "No") and on racial grounds (much of the older/middle aged people who say "Yes" are black).

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

But the most affluent parts of the city that people like me (white, college-educated young professionals) live in do not feel Southern and not populated by people who think they're Southern.

As an increasing number of the black DC community seem to be African or Caribbean immigrants, the Southern character even in that area is declining.

[LabourJersey]

Incidentally, I think a lot of those people who deny any Southernness of DC ignore the Black presence in DC which is quite New South-like imo (both conservatives and liberals seem vested in this "DC is culturally northeastern" argument).  PG County is much more like suburban Atlanta than anything in New York or Boston.

I've asked quote a few people in the DC area this question - do you consider Washington to be a Southern city?

The answers are split on both generational grounds (older people say "Yes" sometimes, younger people uniformly say "No") and on racial grounds (much of the older/middle aged people who say "Yes" are black).

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

But the most affluent parts of the city that people like me (white, college-educated young professionals) live in do not feel Southern and not populated by people who think they're Southern.

As an increasing number of the black DC community seem to be African or Caribbean immigrants, the Southern character even in that area is declining.

Excellent point! There's thriving Ethiopian and Caribbean populations in DC, neither of which have the ties to the American South that other Black Washingtonians have.

[Bismarck]

The historian John Lauk has suggested that the Midwest did have a stronger cultural identity between the civil war and WW2

[Aurelius2]

Thought this was interesting.  For a long time, the Midwest had a weak regional identity, it was sort of seen as default America.  But perhaps more of a regional identity developed in recent years as the center of the American economy moved out of the Midwest.

Explains Cayton: “Up until the last 30 or 40 years, the Midwest was not a peripheral part of the United States. What we call the Midwest — from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century — truly was the heartland of the United States. It was also the political and economic powerhouse of the United States.

“Region as an identity tends to coalesce in places where people feel alienated or cut off — the South being the classic example. “The fact that the term Midwest came so late to general usage goes to the point that nobody thought it was a particularly distinctive place,” Cayton says. “It’s not meant to be insulting. It’s meant to say, ‘This is America here.’ The South is not really quite America. New England is this old 18th-century place. And the West is way the heck out there. So this is the American heartland. People did not use the term Midwest in a widespread way until they began to think of the Midwest as being peculiar or out of the mainstream.”

https://www.hourdetroit.com/communit...ng-of-midwest/

Broken link

[SInNYC]

The problem with having a midwestern identity is that it contains several different parts. The major parts are industry (rust belt), farming, confederacy border states, and depending on how you define the midwest ranching. These all have distinctly different cultures, and you cant really lump southern MO, MN, and Detroit into the same anything.

This is unlike the south, acela corridor, New England, pacific west, west coast, etc.

[NorCalifornio]

Incidentally, I think a lot of those people who deny any Southernness of DC ignore the Black presence in DC which is quite New South-like imo (both conservatives and liberals seem vested in this "DC is culturally northeastern" argument).  PG County is much more like suburban Atlanta than anything in New York or Boston.

I've asked quote a few people in the DC area this question - do you consider Washington to be a Southern city?

The answers are split on both generational grounds (older people say "Yes" sometimes, younger people uniformly say "No") and on racial grounds (much of the older/middle aged people who say "Yes" are black).

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

But the most affluent parts of the city that people like me (white, college-educated young professionals) live in do not feel Southern and not populated by people who think they're Southern.

Wouldn't this be more of an argument for DC not being Southern? While plenty of black migrants did move to Southern cities, the Great Migration is usually thought of as a South-to-North movement. Probably a majority of Detroit residents (in city limits, that is) have roots in the Deep South, but I've never heard anybody call Detroit even slightly Southern.

This isn't to argue that there's nothing at all Southern about DC, I just don't think that's the best way to show it.

[Alcibiades]

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

Surely the fact that most of DC’s black population are descendants of Southern blacks who came during the Great Migration, rather than having longer-term roots in the area, is a point against, not in favour of, its being Southern?

[LabourJersey]

Black Washington still has Southern character that it has kept ever since the Great Migration days (people forget that many of Washington's black residents are descended from migrants from the Carolinas and Deep South, not descendants from the DC metro area).

Surely the fact that most of DC’s black population are descendants of Southern blacks who came during the Great Migration, rather than having longer-term roots in the area, is a point against, not in favour of, its being Southern?

You and NorCalifornio are both right in thinking that way about Washington's actual identity. I was talking more about perceived identity.

My post was more based on the observation that Black Washingtonians feel more connected to the South through their roots than White Washingtonians, and are more likely to say that Washington is a "Southern City."