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- This article is about Old South and the geographical, historical and cultural implications of the phrase. The article on the brand of orange juice can be found at Old South (orange juice).
Geographically, Old South is a subregion of the American South, differentiated from the "Deep South" as being the Southern States represented in the original thirteen American colonies, as well as a way of describing the former lifestyle in the Southern United States. Culturally, the term can be used to describe the antebellum period.
Geographic usage
The Southern Colonies were Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia. Despite Maryland's early association as a Southern colony and later as a state, based on customs, economy, and slave ownership, its role as a Union state during the American Civil War has resulted in a modern disassociation with the area known as the "Old South," a disassociation even more pronounced in the similar case of Delaware.
The "Old South" is usually defined in opposition to the Deep South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and also further differentiated from the inland border states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas and the peripheral southern states of Florida and Texas.
Cultural usage
After the Civil War, many southern whites used it with nostalgia to represent the memories of a time of prosperity, social order, and "gracious living". Most blacks saw it as being a reference to the past times of slavery and the plantation.
Once those with personal memories of the antebellum South were largely deceased, the term continued to be used. It was used even as a marketing term, where products were advertised as having "genuine Old South goodness" and the like.
Certain groups now wish to rescue the term from racist connotations by stating that they desire to celebrate only the things about the Old South which were good, such as its chivalry. An important and sizeable group of this sort is the Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose group is about "Heritage Not Hate" and make a point of honoring the memories of those blacks who served with the Confederate armed forces and their descendants.
See also
Arts
American culture | Southern United States | Regions of the United States
"Old South"