Deep South: Difference between revisions

* In ''A Walk Across America'', Peter Jenkins described how he did just that, from New York to Louisiana. In the picture he paints of the South in the 1970s, certain parts play this trope straight; others avert it. In one town, a small contingency of police basically ordered him to leave and vaguely threatened to hang him if he didn't. In the next town, however, a hospitable family actually "adopted" him for a few months as he worked at a local factory to replenish his cash. In an Alabama town, he was threatened by a group of men, but when he explained to them that they were confirming this trope's stereotypes, they backed off. One of the men felt so bad about the incident he invited Jenkins to come eat with his family.

* The portrayal of churches as Baptist is pretty well justified. The only states in the country that are majority-Baptist are in the South, except Missouri (which is itself sometimes counted as part of the South, or at least parts of it are). Louisiana and Texas have long had large native Catholic populations that the rest of the South lacks. Florida is majority Catholic (due to the massive influx of Cubans and Northern retirees). Texas is split geographically: East Texas outside the major cities is overwhelmingly Baptist; Hill Country, most of the cities, South Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley are all staunchly Catholic.

* [http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/us/bubba-southern-stereotypes/ This article] talks about the portrayal of the South in fiction and compares it to reality.