— Ch. 1 · Defining The Deep South Region —
Deep South.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
The term Deep South describes a cultural and geographic subregion of the United States. Most definitions typically include five states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. East Texas, North Florida, the Arkansas Delta, and parts of West Tennessee sometimes join this group. These areas share histories of slavery and economic dependence on plantation systems. Before 1945, the region was often called the Cotton States because cotton was its primary cash crop. Rice grew in Georgia and South Carolina while sugar dominated Louisiana. The inner core features very rich black soil known as the Black Belt. This geological formation supported massive cotton plantations during the antebellum period. Today the phrase Black Belt refers to counties where African Americans outnumber whites. New Orleans remains the only populous city in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Atlanta now serves as the largest population center with over six million residents in its metro area.
Origins Of Plantation Slavery
South Carolina was dominated by a planter class who migrated from Barbados. They used the Barbados Slave Code of 1661 to control enslaved people. Barbados provided steady sugar production through slave labor for Europe and North America. James Oglethorpe founded Georgia as a buffer state against Spanish Florida. His charter initially prohibited slavery to create sturdy farmers guarding the border. By 1751 the ban lifted and the colony became royal in 1752. At the American Revolution South Carolina and Georgia were majority African American. Dr. John Fothergill noted cultural differences southward from Maryland in 1765. He suggested Southerners resembled Caribbean people more than northern colonies. A French dignitary agreed in 1810 that customs changed entirely over the Potomac River. The plantation system originated in the Caribbean West Indies before spreading to South Carolina and Louisiana. This model relied on forced labor of enslaved Africans on large farms. Towns and cities housed plantation owners while rural areas held the fields. Cotton, rice, and sugar operations functioned like factories using intensive labor units.