Shepherd: One thing I think a lot of white people in the US both north and south fail to understand is that the history of the south is Black history as soon as you look past the governmental level. Down at the level where normal people live their lives, the south's population was and is very Black.

One thing I think a lot of white people in the US both north and south fail to understand is that the history of the south is Black history as soon as you look past the governmental level. Down at the level where normal people live their lives, the south's population was and is very Black.

The majority of South Carolina's population was of African descent for over 200 years, i.e., most of its history as a political entity. www.blackpast.org/african-amer....

South Carolina's Black Majority (1708-1920) •www.blackpast.org By 1708 South Carolina became the first British North American colony to have an African American majority. The first Africans to arrive in South Carolina likely came in 1526 as part of the San Miguel...

Why do we phrase it as "the South lost the civil war" Not "the minority white rulers of the South lost the civil war"

Right? It was a big win for enslaved Black people, who signed up to fight whenever they were allowed to do so by northern whites.

TBF we always conflate the government of a country with its people, even when that government is completely unrepresentative of the people We do that with Russia, China, Iran, etc. all the time

Yup--discussion here yesterday between a few of Shep's friends and a racist dipshit from my fashy island. They used the shorthand of "The Irish potato famine was the fault of the English" Yes, yes it was, the ruling class here were fucking awful, that's not blaming all English people today tho

Major aspects of what southern whites tend to think of as “southern culture” were also appropriated from Black culture.

I think that's why so many people outside the South are OK with writing off the region

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