Or the "War Between The States" because the United States was never fully accepted. "Southern Heritage" is one of those mythical ideas that is like putting on a costume and parading around to become something important. It is often a euphemism for accepting racial predjudice. (Slavery was a big part of the so-called "Southern Heritage").

The Saint Andrews Cross or the Battleflag of the Conferacy was adopted in the 1950s by George Wallace as a symbol of "status quo". It is on many of the Southern state flags and has the same meaning for black people as the swastika for Jewish people.

Dixie for all it's bucolic romance is a myth and not a reality. The real folklore is the lives of hard-working, hard-scrabble people who were victims of injustice both black and white. Rich plantation owners were exploitive in the way that early robber barons operated railroads, sweat shops and other businesses at the expense of working people.

There is a Southern culture, however and it's not all hospitable but it's real in that you can find it through songs and stories. But the idealized South of some folks is mostly a cloak for bigotry. But the real Southerners have a great story to tell about hard times, dancin' music, old time ballads and stories, play party tunes and deeply felt religious views.

Dan Emmett did not want his song to be used as a national anthem for the successionist Southern politics.

Gone With The Wind was a total fabrication by Hollywood.

But the real South is not Dixie as myth but it's not really that much different than the rest of the country.

I know because I live there.

Frank Hamilton