I've lived in the South pretty much my whole life. I've been in Louisiana for over four years now. The other Southern states I've lived in are, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and North Carolina, and we are getting ready to move to Kentucky. According to many Louisianians, most of these states are not Southern. squido.com says "South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee were all part of the Confederacy. At another site, south of the Mason Dixon line,  was Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and so all are part of the South.


On answers.com, the answer to, "What slave states did not secede?" the answer was, "There were four: Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware."

For a really good article about Kentucky's role in the Civil War, check this website out, http://www.ket.org/civilwar/kyrole.html

Most Louisianians believe that Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are THE Southern states. I've had people question about North Carolina, because it says NORTH in its name. Believe me, the Carolinas are VERY much Southern! And Tennessee? Well, I've been told it is in the North. You better not tell any Tennessean's they are Northern!  Just a few months ago, I had someone come up to me, that knew my husband was from Tennessee and commented that Tennessee was soooooo Southern. "Even more than Louisiana!" I got a kick out of that.

Florida... Well, pretty much my whole growing up life was in Florida. I consider myself a Florida gal, and I also consider myself Southern. My parents grew up in Colorado, and if you ask a Southerner about my accent, they will say it is Yankee (I have news for them, Colorado is Western!) When I visit my relatives in Colorado, or when I attended college in Idaho and Utah, I was told I had a Southern accent. I guess I have a little bit of one, but not much. 


OK, well back to Florida. Is it Southern? Many moons ago, it was very Southern, and depending where you go in Florida, it still is. We moved to Florida in 1967 just when the Space Program was really getting big. My dad actually worked on all the Apollo launches (plus some other space related programs). This was the reason for our move from Huntsville, Alabama. 

In recent years, Florida has grown up quite a bit. Since it is the Sunshine State, and has wonderful weather, Florida has attracted people from all over the world. We get Snowbirds that come down in the winter from the North, and we have people who vacation all year round. Because of this, Florida has evolved. So, even though Florida doesn't seem as Southern as it use to be, you can still find a lot of places that are still very much Southern. AND, if you compare it to the Midwest or the Northeast, or the West, most people will say it is still very much Southern. 


Now, that is not to say other places aren't as good as the South. It just says that the South is very much it's own place, and that-----is a good thing.