I'm attempting to remember the last time I described myself as a Southerner. Unfortunately, I can't, and I have to believe there are plenty of Atlanta denizens out there who would neither describe themselves as Southern nor attribute their personal characteristics to that of a Southerner.
Are we all really just Damn Yankees in Atlanta clothing?
Today's quote from Gone with the Wind speaks to the qualifications of Southern gentry:
"They were authorities on the genealogies of everyone who was anyone in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia and did not bother their heads about the other states, because they believed that no one who was anybody ever came from states other than these three."
It's ironic to think that back in the Antebellum days the Atlanta elite qualified "anybody who was somebody" as someone from Georgia, South Carolina or Virginia. How did they skip North Carolina? What was so bad about Tennessee?
One can understand why the Hollywood producers chose to slice out this part of Gone with the Wind which speaks about what a true Southerner is because the definition gets so blurry.
So what makes someone a "Southerner" or as my friend Anna says "true grit"? If anyone has any criteria please share. Inquiring minds want to know.
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