Taking a Look at Code Switching

In the article, “Learning How to Code Switch: Humbling, but Necessary,” I learned that I can relate to Eric Deggans to my own experience. When growing up I had to code switch, an example when I was in elementary and I was in Bilingual classes from Kindergarten to Third Grade. Then when fourth Grade hit my school wanted to switch me to an English class not a Bilingual classes anymore. My mom that day had a lot of thought about it and she said it was fine that the school suggested that, so I switched. The change was different because I couldn’t speak Spanish in my 4th grade English class anymore and I had to code switch to just speaking English to the rest of my classmates. And when I saw my Last 3rd grade bilingual class moving to 4th grade

The origin of code switching can be traced back to multiple scenarios. Around the 1860s slaves were declared free in America. W.E.B Du Bois and Anna Julia Cooper were firm believers that who embraced assimilation and saw higher education as the cure-all to racialized problems. Du Bois, in particular, is famous for his assertion that it would be the “Talented Tenth” of the race who would lead blacks to a better life.

What is unique about the southern culture? The southern culture is unlike any other, it possesses a very diverse group with many different, ethnic communities, and religions. While still binding them all together with one common thread, their heritage. Even with all the differences, southerners embrace each other, reaching across the lines of color, religion, or social standing. Going the extra mile to help someone in need, even if they aren’t family, or a close friend.

After the Civil War, the South was in a state of political turmoil, social chaos, and economic decline. Contrary to popular belief, Northerners did not subject Southerners to unethical or inhumane punishment. The time post Civil War was filled with efforts toward reconstructing the South, yet there is the strong question if there even is a New South. Yes, there was somewhat of a New South economically. No, there was not a New South regarding race relations and social hierarchy. In the 1870’s, the South realized the world still looked at them as the ones who wanted slavery. There was a need to project a new image to the world and to stimulate

You would be hard pressed to find any Southerner who does not know and understand the sentiment behind the statement, “The South will rise again.” The South is a region within the United States that does not follow the generalized ‘American rule.’ In an effort to identify what makes the South a distinctive region, one must explore the comparisons of culture, education, racism, religion, and identity of the South and its people to the rest of America. Through the use of a wide variety of statistics and comprehensive comparisons, it is possible to understand why Southerners feel it is important to protect and preserve their heritage from what they consider to be ‘attacks’ from outsiders. While the South has experienced many

The Southern States of the United States of America have been victims of perceptions and stereotypes that tend to describe them as different from the rest of the United States, especially in terms of culture. These portray the South as rural, uneducated, conservative, racist, and violent. While there are varied opinions on these perceptions this paper will seek to look at whether the South is rural, racist and violent. It is true that incidents of gruesome violence have occurred in the Southern states. Similarly, these states have a significant population of rural dwellers, as well as an expansive amount of underdeveloped territory. However, it is important to note that these occurrences are not autonomous to the southern states but are also characteristic of other states outside the southern region. At the same time, the prosperity, racial tolerance, quality education, etc. observed in states outside the South are equally observed in Southern states. Therefore, the position held in this paper is that the collective generalization or notion that the south is rural, violent and racist needs revisions.

In 1861, the first drastic steps toward the American Civil War were taken when South Carolina decided to secede from the Union. However, several factors led this state as well as several others to realize that they had no purpose to remain in the Union. One main reason that these states decided to leave was their belief of constant oppression and attacking of their Southern pride by the North. The idea of “Southern pride” was defined by the constant beliefs of the region to express its uniqueness and prove its importance to the nation and perhaps the world. This Southern pride existed in several forms, including in the their asset-based economy and their status quo, which in turn lead them to feel degraded in the United States and obligated to secede; this pride also helped the Southern states, as a part of the Confederacy, gain an advantage over the North in the beginning stages of the Civil War.

The South is seen as a romanticize version of the United States. A place where virtue, honor, and strong religious morals were upheld in common society. However, the recurring themes that the South would have the role of being the ongoing rebel against most national policies that gave any sign of hindering their way of life, the concept of individualism, yet keeping its own societal identity.

The principles in the early South almost never changed until the Civil war, and ideals from the creation of colonies became law, never to be changed. In this way, the South walled itself from those who tried to settle there only to find themselves turned away from society and shunned. Such people would be mixed children, those who were not Christian, and Africans. Tolerance found in the north soon dwindled moving down to the south, a devoutly Christian region until around the mid 1700’s. Lack of communication and commerce with other nations as previously mentioned left the south at a weak point, finding themselves turning others away, while being alone in themselves. A key reason for the intense sense of culture in the modern South is this isolation found early in the history of these colonies, where a sense of pride for these Southern values becomes all-encompassing. A bold similarity between the two regions stands out, a core set of values, whether for the North and South. The Northern colonies had a focus on the sciences, and advancement of civilization, while the South wanted nothing more than to live on their precious land, and focus on the plantation life they had come to develop, not eager to branch out into any other

Socially, the Jim Crow South has continued on its legacy of racism. People constantly account stories of how bad things got in the south. Charles George, an author for The Way People Live, tells his audience about the social norms that many of them

The south is referred as the Bible belt region, meaning we have our own way of bringing up our children in religious ways. Some people in the south become Southern Baptist and have spiritual beliefs all of their own. It’s often said that southern women discipline their children with a smack on the bottom. That teaches them the difference between right and wrong which is taught in southern churches. Religion in the south has all kinds of meanings but teaches the same

Southerners are apart of a subculture because they are part of a nation which is split into different cultures. Unless you were born and raised in the South, or at least lived long enough to assimilate into it, your insight of who and what they are may have been severely twisted by the media and the entertainment industry. the image of “Deliverance” may live on in parts of the deep South, but every culture has its exceptions. Southerners are recognized for inventing: Anesthesia, Hearing aids, Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola. Some people believe that everyone in the South is uneducated and ignorant. People tend to think that all Southerners are Republicans, while,

Where one grows up affects their lifestyle and character; one’s surroundings shape his or her outlook on the world. Many people always say when growing up in the city one will be used to a diverse, hasty going, and exhilarating life; while growing up in the country one will be used to a deliberate, steadier, and bucolic life. Although moving to Mississippi was a dramatic alteration, I can explicitly acknowledges the menaces–death, robberies, and fights–encountered growing up in the city. Therefore, moving to the south may have been a better alternative involving my physical well-being, regardless of the many emotional struggles. Moving down south to Mississippi from Illinois showed me the struggles of coping with racism and prejudice people,

In a time period that redefined the nation, two completely different stories were unfolding within the two regions of the country. Shortly after the American Civil War, the United States took on changes the young country had not seen before and has not seen since. With the northern states thriving in an economy driven by industry, the south watched as their land quickly turned into lost wishes. This time period is known as “The Reconstruction Era.” As the Civil War was coming to a close, President Lincoln had already made plans of rebuilding the war-torn south. As a result of the 13th Amendment, very few southerners were fond of African-Americans. Due to the hatred that was instilled into the minds of the youth in the south, a new group was

The North and the South also sought out different paths on how America’s future was going to be. In the article Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism, McPherson incorporated articles telling about each side’s way of life; southerners were the agricultural people they wanted to keep their lives traditional, full of the old ways and slavery. While the northerners were the manufacturers they had the big cities, lots of factories, over worked and underpaid workers.1 They are both gravely different and see the other side as ruining their definitions of the American way of life.