Deep South - Origins

Origins

Although often used in history books to refer to the seven states which originally formed the Confederacy, the term "Deep South" was not actually coined until long after the Civil War had ended. Up until that time, "Lower South" was the general designation used to refer to the said states. When "Deep South" first made its appearance in print "during the second third of the twentieth century" it originally applied to the states/areas of Mississippi, north Louisiana, southern parts of Alabama and Georgia, and northern Florida. This was the part of the South considered to be the "most Southern" of all.

Later, the general definition expanded to include the whole of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, often taking in bordering areas of East Texas and the original inclusion of north Florida. In its broadest application today, the Deep South is considered to be "an area roughly coextensive with the old cotton belt from eastern North Carolina through South Carolina west into East Texas, with extentions north and south along the Mississippi."