A Novo Hampshirian Takes a Gander at the South
From Mark Byron, a link to another Yankee feller, Benjamin Kepple, who talks up the 'Saving of Civilization by The South' idea, with a slightly different viewpoint. Good points, including:

"First, to say main-line Southern culture is responsible for the good found in the old Civil Rights struggle is stretching it, to say the least. The fight for racial equality would have been far less productive without the support of Northern politicians and Northern activists of all races, who frequently made great sacrifices to ensure their fellow men were made equal in the eyes of the Law. Indeed, had Northerners such as President Kennedy not supported the civil rights leaders of that era, one can imagine the struggle would have been far less peaceful, and might have resulted in a far more radical political shift than the one which took place. After all, without outside help, who knows how long Rev King's message of non-violence would have lasted? How long before those disgusted with seeing blacks as second-class citizens in the South turned en masse to socialism? This is not idle thinking, either. The historian Harry Turtledove, whom one could call a Southern sympathiser, has put forth a similar hypothesis in his "alternative history" books."

The only part I can fault is that the folks who were "disgusted with seeing blacks as second-class citizens in the South" often turned a blind eye to the the reality of blacks being treated as second-class citizens in the North. Back in February I linked to a Newhouse News Service article detailing the Great Migration from the South to the North and Midwest, and the very similar conditions blacks had to contend with in both the North and the South.

The portrait is not a flattering one, regardless of your location relative to the Mason-Dixon Line.
posted by Terry at 3:40:00 PM