Dixie
Encyclopedia
Dixie is a nickname
for the Southern United States
.
, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:
As a definite geographic location within the United States, "Dixie" is usually defined as the 11 Southern states
that seceded to form the Confederate States of America
. They are (in order of secession
): South Carolina
, Mississippi
, Florida
, Alabama
, Georgia
, Louisiana
, Texas
, Virginia
, Arkansas
, North Carolina
, and Tennessee
. This definition is strongly correlated with history and, in the minds of many Southerner
s, remains the traditional South.
In other ways however, the "location" and boundaries of Dixie have become, over time, more limited, vernacular, and/or mercurial. In popular mindset today, it is most often associated with those parts of the Southern United States where traditions and legacies of the Antebellum South
live most strongly.
In this particular contemporary realm, there are no hard and fast lines. Roughly, however, it might be an area which begins in the Eastern Shore of Maryland
(and the southern
parts of West Virginia
), then extends south into Central Florida
. On the northern boundary it sweeps west to take in Tennessee and southern parts of Kentucky
, then continues through Arkansas, possibly taking in southern Missouri and also Oklahoma. On the southern end it would run through the Gulf
states until the northern and southern boundary lines connect to include East Texas
. For a more detailed description and delineation, see The Nine Nations of North America
by Joel Garreau
.
Many businesses in the South contain "Dixie" in their name as an identifier, e.g. "Dixie Produce". One of the more famous is supermarket chain Winn-Dixie.
Related to this fact, cultural sociologist and "Southernologist" Dr. John Shelton Reed
has attempted to "locate" Dixie by a criterion measuring the ratio of business listings containing the term as compared to those utilizing "American". First published in a 1976 article in Social Forces
, this particular study was later updated in 1988. In contrasting the two, the delineating lines measuring over 6% of Dixie to American remained fairly constant in covering the Old Confederate States, with the exception being in Texas where, in both surveys, it was fairly well limited to eastern parts of the state.
Noted anomalies were the inclusion, and later even slight extension, into parts of the lower Midwest, particularly southern Indiana
and southwestern Ohio
. Neither of these areas can be properly considered a part of the South, so one explanation could be the extent of the so-called "Dixie Highway
" into those particular locales and business names reflecting such. The red areas in Utah are explained by the locals' choice of the nickname Dixie
for the low-lying and thus very warm areas in the southwestern part of the state.
In using a yardstick of 15%, all but a tiny slice of northeast Texas drops out of the picture. Also losing considerable ground were Virginia and most of Florida save the panhandle. Notable losses also occurred in North Carolina and Kentucky. Most remarkable of all however, was, as Reed stated, the fact that Dixie "dissolves as a coherent region" when the even more demanding standard of 25% was applied. In 1988 as compared to 1976, with the exception of small and isolated parts of adjoining states, only in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina were large areas still recorded on the data map.
"I Wish I Was in Dixie" is a popular song about the South. It was allegedly written by composer Daniel Emmett, a Northerner
from Ohio, and published in 1859. Emmet's claims of the origin of the song were many and varied. According to one such version, Emmett was taught the song by the Snowden family of African American musicians, then freemen of color, with the lyrics coming from a letter written longingly of life in the south by Evelyn Snowden to her father. Emmett's blackface
minstrel-show
troupe debuted the song that same year in New York City
when they needed a song to lengthen their presentation and it became an immediate hit. As with other minstrel show numbers, the song was performed in blackface and in exaggerated Black English vernacular
. The song proved extremely popular and became widely known simply as "Dixie". The song has also been published as "Dixie's Land".
The song became the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America
during the American Civil War
. The tune's minstrel-show origins have created a strong association of "Dixie" with the Old South
, despite the fact that it was written in the North. As a result, some today perceive the song as offensive and racist while many see it as an honorable part of Southern heritage. Abraham Lincoln
, upon hearing of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox
, asked the military band to play Dixie.
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
for the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
.
Origin of the name
According to the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:
- The word "'Dixie'" refers to privately issued currency from bankBankA bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s in LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. These banks issued ten-dollar notes, labeled "Dix", FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "ten", on the reverse side. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to most of the Southern States. - The word preserves the name of a "Mr. Dixy", a slave owner on Manhattan Island, where slaverySlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
was legal until 1827. His rule was so kindly that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an elysiumElysiumElysium is a conception of the afterlife that evolved over time and was maintained by certain Greek religious and philosophical sects, and cults. Initially separate from Hades, admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes...
abounding in material comforts. - "Dixie" derives from Jeremiah DixonJeremiah DixonJeremiah Dixon was an English surveyor and astronomer who is perhaps best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason-Dixon line....
, a surveyor of the Mason-Dixon lineMason-Dixon lineThe Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...
which defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and, for the most part, free and slave states (a small portion of Delaware, a Union border state, and slave state up to the ratification of the Thirteenth AmendmentThirteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
, lay north of the boundary.)
Dixie as a region
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
that seceded to form the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. They are (in order of secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
): South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. This definition is strongly correlated with history and, in the minds of many Southerner
Southerner
Southerner or The Southerner can refer to:* Southern , someone from a southern subnational entity** A citizen of the Southern United States, usually someone who identifies themselves as such...
s, remains the traditional South.
In other ways however, the "location" and boundaries of Dixie have become, over time, more limited, vernacular, and/or mercurial. In popular mindset today, it is most often associated with those parts of the Southern United States where traditions and legacies of the Antebellum South
Old South
Geographically, Old South is a subregion of the American South, differentiated from the "Deep South" as being the Southern States represented in the original thirteen American colonies, as well as a way of describing the former lifestyle in the Southern United States. Culturally, the term can be...
live most strongly.
In this particular contemporary realm, there are no hard and fast lines. Roughly, however, it might be an area which begins in the Eastern Shore of Maryland
Eastern Shore of Maryland
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a territorial part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies predominately on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay and consists of nine counties. The origin of term Eastern Shore was derived to distinguish a territorial part of the State of Maryland from the Western...
(and the southern
Southern West Virginia
Southern West Virginia is a culturally and geographically distinct region in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Generally considered the heart of Appalachia, Southern West Virginia is known for its coal mining heritage and southern affinity...
parts of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
), then extends south into Central Florida
Central Florida
Central Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....
. On the northern boundary it sweeps west to take in Tennessee and southern parts of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, then continues through Arkansas, possibly taking in southern Missouri and also Oklahoma. On the southern end it would run through the Gulf
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
states until the northern and southern boundary lines connect to include East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
. For a more detailed description and delineation, see The Nine Nations of North America
The Nine Nations of North America
The Nine Nations of North America is a book written in 1981 by Joel Garreau. In it, Garreau suggests that North America can be divided into nine regions, or "nations", which have distinctive economic and cultural features...
by Joel Garreau
Joel Garreau
Joel Garreau is an American journalist, scholar and author of Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – And What It Means to Be Human, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier and The Nine Nations of North America.In 2010, Garreau became the Lincoln Professor of Law,...
.
Many businesses in the South contain "Dixie" in their name as an identifier, e.g. "Dixie Produce". One of the more famous is supermarket chain Winn-Dixie.
Related to this fact, cultural sociologist and "Southernologist" Dr. John Shelton Reed
John Shelton Reed
John Shelton Reed is a sociologist and essayist, author or editor of eighteen books, most of them dealing with the contemporary American South. Reed regularly contributes articles to non-academic publications such as The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and the Oxford American...
has attempted to "locate" Dixie by a criterion measuring the ratio of business listings containing the term as compared to those utilizing "American". First published in a 1976 article in Social Forces
Social Forces
Social Forces is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of social science published by the University of North Carolina Press...
, this particular study was later updated in 1988. In contrasting the two, the delineating lines measuring over 6% of Dixie to American remained fairly constant in covering the Old Confederate States, with the exception being in Texas where, in both surveys, it was fairly well limited to eastern parts of the state.
Noted anomalies were the inclusion, and later even slight extension, into parts of the lower Midwest, particularly southern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and southwestern Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. Neither of these areas can be properly considered a part of the South, so one explanation could be the extent of the so-called "Dixie Highway
Dixie Highway
The Dixie Highway was a United States automobile highway, first planned in 1914 to connect the US Midwest with the Southern United States. It was part of the National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of...
" into those particular locales and business names reflecting such. The red areas in Utah are explained by the locals' choice of the nickname Dixie
Dixie (Utah)
Dixie is the nickname for southwestern Utah. It was first settled in the early 1860s, when farmers were sent south by Brigham Young to grow cotton, hoping to capitalize on the lack of availability of cotton due to the American Civil War. St. George, Grafton, Duncans Retreat, Adventure, and Northup...
for the low-lying and thus very warm areas in the southwestern part of the state.
In using a yardstick of 15%, all but a tiny slice of northeast Texas drops out of the picture. Also losing considerable ground were Virginia and most of Florida save the panhandle. Notable losses also occurred in North Carolina and Kentucky. Most remarkable of all however, was, as Reed stated, the fact that Dixie "dissolves as a coherent region" when the even more demanding standard of 25% was applied. In 1988 as compared to 1976, with the exception of small and isolated parts of adjoining states, only in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina were large areas still recorded on the data map.
I Wish I Was in Dixie
- Main article: "Dixie (song)Dixie (song)Countless lyrical variants of "Dixie" exist, but the version attributed to Dan Emmett and its variations are the most popular. Emmett's lyrics as they were originally intended reflect the mood of the United States in the late 1850s toward growing abolitionist sentiment. The song presented the point...
"
Northern United States
Northern United States, also sometimes the North, may refer to:* A particular grouping of states or regions of the United States of America. The United States Census Bureau divides some of the northernmost United States into the Midwest Region and the Northeast Region...
from Ohio, and published in 1859. Emmet's claims of the origin of the song were many and varied. According to one such version, Emmett was taught the song by the Snowden family of African American musicians, then freemen of color, with the lyrics coming from a letter written longingly of life in the south by Evelyn Snowden to her father. Emmett's blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
minstrel-show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
troupe debuted the song that same year in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
when they needed a song to lengthen their presentation and it became an immediate hit. As with other minstrel show numbers, the song was performed in blackface and in exaggerated Black English vernacular
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
. The song proved extremely popular and became widely known simply as "Dixie". The song has also been published as "Dixie's Land".
The song became the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The tune's minstrel-show origins have created a strong association of "Dixie" with the Old South
Old South
Geographically, Old South is a subregion of the American South, differentiated from the "Deep South" as being the Southern States represented in the original thirteen American colonies, as well as a way of describing the former lifestyle in the Southern United States. Culturally, the term can be...
, despite the fact that it was written in the North. As a result, some today perceive the song as offensive and racist while many see it as an honorable part of Southern heritage. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, upon hearing of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox
Appomattox
Appomattox may refer to:*Appomattox, Virginia, a town*Appomattox County, Virginia* Appomattox Basin, a name for the Tri-Cities, Virginia region*Appomattox Court House, a court house in Virginia...
, asked the military band to play Dixie.
See also
- Black Belt Region
- Bible BeltBible BeltBible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
- Deep SouthDeep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
- Dixie ChicksDixie ChicksThe Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
- Dixie DregsDixie DregsThe Dixie Dregs are an American band formed in the 1970s. Their mostly instrumental music fuses jazz, southern rock, bluegrass and classical forms in an often unique style.-Formation and early years:...
- Dixie MafiaDixie MafiaThe Dixie Mafia is a criminal organization based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and operated primarily in the Southern United States, in the 1970s. The group uses each member's talents in various crime categories to help move stolen merchandise, illegal alcohol, and illegal drugs...
- Dixieland JazzDixielandDixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
- Little DixieLittle Dixie-Communities:*Little Dixie, Arkansas, unincorporated community in Arkansas on the Woodruff-Prairie county line*Little Dixie, California, former community in Kern County*Little Dixie, Kentucky, also known as Dixiefield, in Henderson County, Kentucky...
- Mason-Dixon lineMason-Dixon lineThe Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...
- Utah's Dixie
- Dixie StationDixie StationDixie Station was a geographic position during the Vietnam War in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta from which United States Navy aircraft carriers launched strikes providing close air support for US and ARVN ground troops in South Vietnam...
External links
- "Dixie's Land" Sheet music from the United States Library of Congress
- Lyrics to "I Wish I Was in Dixie"
- clip of "The Carter Family" singing about Dixie
