Whats going on in the southern states of america these people are a different kind of flava?

Several Southern states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) were British colonies that sent delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence and then fought against the government along with the Northern colonies during the Revolutionary War. The basis for much Southern culture derives from the pride in these states being among the 13 original colonies, and from the fact that much of the population of the South has strong ancestral links to Colonists who emigrated west. Southern manners and customs reflect the relationship with England and Africa that was held by the early population, with some influences being provided by the Native American populations of the area.

Overall, the South has had lower percentages of high school graduates, lower housing values, lower household incomes, and lower cost of living than the rest of the United States. 86 These factors, combined with the fact that Southerners have continued to maintain strong loyalty to family ties, has led some sociologists to label white Southerners an ethnic or quasi-ethnic group,8788 though this interpretation has been subject to criticism on the grounds that proponents of the view do not satisfactorily indicate how Southerners meet the criteria of ethnicity. The predominant culture of the South has its origins with the settlement of the region by large groups of Northern English, Scots lowlanders and Ulster-Scots (later called the Scotch-Irish) who settled in Appalachia and the Piedmont in the 18th century, and from parts of southern England such as East Anglia, Kent and the West Country in the 17th century,90 and the many African slaves who were part of the Southern economy.

African-American descendants of the slaves brought into the South compose the United States' second-largest racial minority, accounting for 12.1 percent of the total population according to the 2000 census. Despite Jim Crow era outflow to the North, the majority of the black population remains concentrated in the Southern states, and has heavily contributed to the cultural blend (Christianity, foods, art, music (see spiritual, blues, jazz and rock and roll)) that characterize Southern culture today. In previous censuses, the largest ancestry group identified by Southerners was English or mostly English,449192 with 19,618,370 self-reporting "English" as an ancestry on the 1980 census, followed by 12,709,872 listing "Irish" and 11,054,127 "Afro-American".

449192 Almost a third of all Americans who claim English ancestry can be found in the American South, and over a quarter of all Southerners claim English descent as well. 93 The South also continues to have the highest percentage of African Americans in the country, due to the history of slavery. The South has been a stronghold of evangelical Protestantism94 Although the upper class In Virginia and South Carolina was Anglican, The First Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening from about 1742 about 1850 generated large numbers of Methodists and Baptists.

95 By 1900, the Southern Baptist Convention had become numerically largest group, especially in rural areas and remain so. 9697 followed by Methodists, with other denominations found throughout the region. Roman Catholics historically were concentrated in Maryland, Louisiana, and Hispanic areas such as South Texas and South Florida and along the Gulf Coast.

The great majority of black Southerners are Baptist or Methodist. 98 Statistics show that Southern states have the highest religious attendance figures of any region in the United States. Pentecostalism has been strong across the South since the late 19th century.

A number of sports are popular in the Southern U.S., but American football is the most popular. The following table shows the most popular sports teams based in the Southern U.S., ranked by average annual attendance. All of the top attended teams in the Southern U.S. are American football teams.

Baseball has been played in the Southern United States since at least the years leading up to the American Civil War. It was traditionally more popular than American football until the 1980s, and still accounts for the most annual attendance in sports for the South. The first mention of a baseball team in Houston was on April 11, 1861.

102103 19th century and early 20th century games were common, especially once the professional leagues such as the Texas League, the Dixie League, and the Southern League were organized. The short-lived Louisville Colonels were a part of the early National League and American Association, but ceased to exist in 1899. The first Southern Major League Baseball team after the Colonels appeared in 1962 when the Houston Colt .45s (known today as the Houston Astros) were enfranchised.

Later, the Atlanta Braves came in 1966, followed by the Texas Rangers in 1972, and finally the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays in the 1990s. College baseball appears to be more well attended in the Southern U.S. than elsewhere, as teams like LSU, Virginia, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Texas are commonly at the top of the NCAA's attendance. 104 The South generally produces very successful collegiate baseball teams as well, with Virginia, Vanderbilt, LSU, and South Carolina winning recent College World Series Titles.

Nine Southern states have obesity rates over 30% of the population, the highest in the country: Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas. 106107 Rates for hypertension and diabetes for these states are also the highest in the nation. 107 A study reported that six Southern states have the worse incidence of sleep disturbances in the nation, attributing the disturbances to high rates of obesity and smoking.

108 The South has a higher percentage of obese people109 and diabetics. 110 It has the largest number of people dying from stroke. 111 The South has the highest rates of cognitive decline.

112 Life expectancy is lower and death rates higher in the South than in the other regions of the country for all racial groups.