An illustration depicts common characteristically Southern features in Southern states. Defined by unintelligence, poverty and poor history, the South’s reputation is forever tainted despite the work of various educational institutes, authors and professors. “While it is necessary to acknowledge the shortcomings of Southern history, dwelling on them and only regarding the South as a place of negativity diminishes the value of the work those have put in to progress,” Viewpoints Editor Isabella Gresham wrote. Illustration by Sylvia Robinson
While the South’s history is forever tainted, Southern education and authors continue to work beyond the negative stereotypes and attitudes towards the South.
“You have a distinctive Southern drawl. You must be stupid.” That stereotype, and many worse, are consistent in the world’s mind when they discover someone from the American South.
Being credited with Southern hospitality, renowned authors, iconic music genres and infinitely more, being from the South is made out to be a curse rather than a blessing. The second someone from another region hears that sweet Southern accent or notices someone’s kind Southern manners, their mind fills with baseless stereotypes forever rooted in a complicated history.
Stemming from before the Civil War, the South was infused with hatred, slavery and racism, leading to a forever tarnished reputation. Even after progressive movements, like the fight for women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement, and the countless efforts of Americans to reverse the horrid past, the media has clung to this outdated narrative and made it near impossible to counter.
While it is necessary to acknowledge the shortcomings of Southern history, dwelling on them and only regarding the South as a place of negativity diminishes the value of the work those have put in to progress.
“Southerners have done amazing things and in some ways, the poverty, the racism (and) the struggle creates people. We know the name Martin Luther King Jr., because of what he accomplished. The brutality of the South has created exceptional people, and those things go hand in hand,” Dr. R.J. Morgan, University of Mississippi Instructional Associate Professor and Director of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association, said.
Beyond the intolerances that plagued the South, poverty runs deep in its roots. Education by default has struggled because of this, leading to a large number of poorer school districts.
Judging based on accents rather than accomplishments is never an accurate assessment.
According to a report conducted by the nonprofit organization Economic Policy Institute, in 2023, the poverty rate across the South was 12.4%, whereas it was 11% in the West and 9.8% in the Northeast and Midwest. Still, despite being poorer than other regions, great contributions to the world have been made within the South.
With the first state-chartered public university in the United States, the University of Georgia, being in the South, influential American author and Civil Rights Activist Maya Angelou, widely-loved blues music and more all originating in the deep South, its poor history is acknowledged, but overridden.
Perpetuating the stereotype that everyone in the South is unintelligent, despite its multitude of talented people will forever do more harm than good. Judging someone based on their accent rather than their accomplishments simply uncovers prejudice rather than providing an accurate assessment.
Usree Bhattacharya, Associate Professor in the language and literacy department at the University of Georgia Mary Frances Early College of Education, has endured this with her daughter, Kalika Bhattacharya, who has Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder causing regression in motor and language skills.
“I’ve learned firsthand how society confuses different ways of communicating with lack of intelligence. Kalika communicates through a sophisticated repertoire that includes eye gaze, vocalizations, body language and assistive technology. She’s brilliant, but people who expect verbal speech often fail to see her intelligence,” Bhattacharya said.
The place a person is born in or their tone of voice should never be a defining factor of their intelligence. While the South’s past is filled with ugliness, the hurt stereotyping causes is irreversible.
Acknowledging Southern history and clinging to it are entirely different. Southerners are constantly working to prove themselves beyond these stereotypes but can only do so without the constant reminder of a treacherous Southern past.
