Narrator: Now listen to a talk from an American folklore class.

Professor: In today’s America, the south-eastern area, or as we call it, “the South,” has retained more of its identity than the North has. Before, there were a lot of things which could be identified as being strictly southern in America. Certain types of architecture, foods, customs, and clothing used to be just southern things. Over time, the South’s identity is slowly becoming more uniform with that of the North, and the strictly southern things of before are being forgotten altogether.

There are two main reasons why the South kept its folklore history more alive than the North. The first reason is that southern people traditionally stayed where they were born and raised. When you were born in the South, you stayed there your whole life. Several generations stayed in the same area. Maybe you moved to a different community down the road, but you stayed in the same general area. This is a theory why some people in the south refuse to abandon their homes when hurricanes come. They are rooted to their homes like a tree is rooted to the earth. When you have the same people living in the same areas for so long, they pass their ways and culture down through the generations.

The other reason why the South kept up its identity until recently is related to why the North lost its. Many new immigrants to America all used to move to the North. Those new people brought their own customs and cultures with them. The North is very mixed now in races and cultures. But people have started to also come and populate the South. This new influx of people is introducing many new cultures and customs which are being incorporated into the southern culture to create a newer American culture.

Narrator: Now get ready to answer the question.

Narrator: Why was the South able to keep its culture and identity for so long and why is it slowly disappearing now? Use examples from the lecture.

 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Answer

The South was able to keep its culture for a long time because people in the South don’t move. When the children grow up, they live in the same area. The children go to school, work, and marry in the same area and live in the same place all their lives. People in the North move around and live in different places. The South also kept its culture for a long time because all of the same people lived there. No new people were moving to the South. It was just the same people passing down the same culture with no interlopers. But, the South’s identity is slowly becoming more uniform with the rest of America because now, lots of people, other Americans and recent immigrants, are moving there and bringing their own culture and identity with them. The South’s identity is slowly becoming an American identity, which is the same as the rest of America.