Southern Belles Not What They Seem?

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Their projected image might be sweeter than tea, but the history of the Southern belle is a bit more dark and stormy. ‪@TraeCrowderLiberalRedneck‬ looks at why Southern belles even became a thing and all the secrets hiding under those hoop skirts.
The American South is a complicated place, and we know a lot less about it than we think we do. And many things about the South that seem to make no sense are less confounding in context. The reality is the history of many Southern things has been manipulated, hidden, or just plain ignored. Trae Crowder guides us through the pride points, failures, and contradictions in "Southin' Off."
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[@seitanbeatsyourmeat666]

Southern bells morphed into modern mean girls. Prove me wrong

[@causticchameleon7861]

Only if you piss us off. So tread carefully. We are usually taught to fight and shoot by our fathers.

[@Saber23]

You can’t just say random shit and then say “prove me wrong” it ain’t fucking true “mean girls” always existed

[@dklee.01]

i went to high school in chapel hill, north carolina. i can’t prove you wrong but i can DEFINITELY prove you right.

[@jaysoncarter5093]

Catty as hell. Bless their hearts 😂😂😂!

[@Saber23]

@@dklee.01 no you can’t bruh 🙄

[@amberadams2074]

I’ve been researching and studying my own family history since I was a teenager, and I’m descended from quite a few Confederate slaveholders. It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around how they justified the things they did, particularly as a woman. One day as I was reading “The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas” by Bobby L. Lovett, he pointed out that under the slave system although a woman couldn’t inherit or hold land, she could inherit and hold slaves in her own right. Those slaves could then be hired out for wages, which she could keep as income independent of her husband. I’ve since discovered that I actually have an ancestor who used this kind of stolen labor to successfully flee an abusive husband! That was an “aha” moment for me, because it suddenly made so much sense why white women would support and perpetuate this system. They were very much participants and benefactors from it, which is exactly why from the “Southern Belle” to the white supremacist nonsense surrounding women’s suffrage, they colluded in racist propaganda to the very last.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

the civil war novel COLD MOUNTAIN says about slavery, 'it made the rich ugly and proud, and it made the poor mean.'

[@fatimah230]

@@Blaqjaqshellaqthat book was so good! The film is one of my favorites ❤️

[@johnnyfreedom3437]

My family was from the north and I went to the gravesite of an ancestor who fought in the Civil War, so I know my family was never on the other side. But it doesn't make it any easier to deal with the fact that it was Americans that did this! And I'm American, but not this kind of American!!

[@amberadams2074]

@@johnnyfreedom3437 I have ancestors who fought for the Union too.

[@johnnyfreedom3437]

@@amberadams2074 that's got to be difficult with a split family history like that. I was so pissed off after I retired in Tulsa and watched the 12 news as the black bodies were being dug up from unmarked Graves, from a race Massacre I never knew anything about! We can't let history be buried again!!

[@Dan-ud8hz]

"My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another. In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem to perceive that I sustained to her the relation of a mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so. Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.” Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave)

[@seitanbeatsyourmeat666]

The tiger like fierceness was always the dominant quality, she was hiding it under sheep’s wool

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Poetic. Imagine if he could speak freely? The civil rights were 100yrs later, so he could have been killed of he displeased the wrong person and the killer likely wouldn't be punished. Context can make you reevaluate his wording. (How would you publicly describe your well connected former boss?)

[@kylerae9196]

​@TragoudistrosMPH you may be interested to know that upon being freed, Frederick Douglass made multiple trips to Scottland, where he was engaged as a university speaker. There is a statue of him at the University of Glasgow. Many of Scottland's views and laws on freedom came from contact with former American Slaves.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

@@kylerae9196 I appreciate the info! There's always more to learn and I love to learn!

[@Starlight_Silver]

Interesting quote, thank you for sharing.

[@Debbie338]

I do take Southern Belles seriously on occasion. If a posh Southern girl pats you on the cheek and says “Well, bless your little heart, sugar,” she’s probably going to have you killed.

[@seitanbeatsyourmeat666]

She won’t dirty her hands though, she sics her man on you

[@pollyd612]

I only found out a few years ago that Bless your heart was a derogatory remark in southern speak😮

[@jackieedmondson8422]

😂🤣🤣😂🤣

[@sherylhoward4831]

​@@pollyd612It depends on how you say it and your tone of voice. It can really get confusing to discern when it is in print!

[@SharonPryor-hg9oj]

​@sherylhoward4831 Absolutely. I never say it in a mean spirited manner. I use it when someone has tried really hard and they are just not getting anywhere. I think highly of them for their tenaciousness and I know it must hurt their hearts.

[@dominictemple]

Being a “southern belle” is kind of tied up with class and slavery, how else is she supposed to be able spend time and money to look like that without having lots of unpaid workers doing hard agricultural work?

[@fatimah230]

True. The benefits still trickle down to the ordinary white woman tho

[@yurironoue5888]

Sorry for the accidental dislike. I agree with your comment.

[@purpleXpotion]

Unpaid? They _were_ paid, in the form of food, clothing, & shelter. And even today, slavery was never actually _’abolished.’_ It was simply ‘redistributed’ by ‘the union’ to be EQUALLY applicable to ALL ‘other citizens,’ meaning, for the benefit of a select few elite ‘government representatives’ who wear suits, ties, drive nice vehicles, sport fancy-looking high-fashion wives, (sometimes along with a few side-pieces) own multiple gated properties, & have basically segregated themselves from ‘the lower class people,’ while profiting off tax dollars accumulated from having seized control of the American working-class economy via threats & force. And furthermore, unlike the so-called ‘evil confederate slave-owning southerners’ ..at least _they_ never had the audacity to BLATANTLY LIE by suggesting their motives were based on the purest intentions of 🤗 ‘striving to achieve a tangible existence of unity, equality, & integration with the lifestyle of slaves they owned.’ 🤗

[@amandaking6554]

I think, if someone wants to get a handle on how Southern Belles really lived their lives, a good place to start is "They Were Her Property" by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. It's about the slave-holding women of the South.

[@crptnite]

You're aware that most white women in the South were actually also considered the property of their husbands, right? That we've been beaten and raped and even murdered by white AND black men for centuries, now? Seriously, what's with this fetish of white men and black women demonizing white women? Y'all really do need to take some accountability of your own...

[@Anne--Marie]

Thank you.

[@Saber23]

Yeah no shit slaves were property, that’s what made them slaves it was normal all over the world back then

[@seresimarta4436]

​@@Saber23Not in Europe.

[@normaowens7340]

The only thing I liked was the dresses. They were gorgeous!

[@rickmacfael1144]

Do you know why Upperclass Southern Girls were sent to finishing schools? Being raised by slave nannies led to them sounding like those they subjugated. That just could not stand.

[@moniqueengleman873]

No. I was sent to "finishing school" and it was all about manners, gentile conversations, how to please your husband by running a ship shape household. I was a wild drag racing rebellious teenager. I loved cars and horses and anything that involved getting physically dirty. As you can imagine, it didn't "take" on me. 😂😂😂

[@Starlight_Silver]

@@moniqueengleman873- Seeing as you weren’t raised by a black slave nanny, the things you learned in finishing school would likely be somewhat different than the things an 18th century girl would learn. Sadly, the girls who actually need finishing school aren’t the ones going. Some of these rednecks could really use a course in grammar. Imagine being raised by hick parents and picking up their way of speaking, then putting yourself through college, thinking you’re going to get a high-paying job, only to realize that the way you talk is holding you back in life. I know my brother and sister both worked to drop their accents as much as they could to make it in their careers. Luckily, we all were raised by parents who were teachers and taught us how to speak well. It would be a much bigger hurdle to have to lose the accent *and* the poor hillbilly grammar. I kept my Tennessee accent because I have no desire to work in the corporate world. I like having an accent. It sounds more interesting. Trae has the kind of redneck accent and speech habits that would hold him back in some careers. He has the ability to go in and out of it to some degree, but he can’t hide it completely. Not that he would want to. It’s been a real boost for his career.

[@radguurl]

Charles Dickens talked about this when he visited the south. The boys were given tutors from a young age and sent to universities while the girls were raised by enslaved black women nannies and didn't get much in the way of book education. So Dickens was SHOCKED that the women sounded so uneducated as compared to their brothers. Dickens wrote a book on it called American Notes in 1842, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Notes

[@monicadaniels784]

Makes sense, never thought of that!

[@emilyfeagin2673]

Back in the 60s my grandmother told my mother that she should send me to finishing school. I said hey! I’m not a cake.

[@user-yz9yg4yx1k]

The southern belle was charmimg, gracious, soft spoken, well mannered. And guess who raised her? She was entrusted to a black "mammy" for her care. She was only sent to a finishing or charm school to polish the edges of her upbringing. Not enough credit is given to those women who not only took over the breastfeeding of a white child, but in most cases, raised these childten to be who they were. From making sure these children ate their food,put their hats on, were properly dressed, well mannered, nursed thru sickness, black women did it all. Most southern mothers did what all women with a full time nanny did. Read a story and tuck them in at bedtime and take credit for that child.

[@kdbee6086]

My great grandmother was a belle in the 1870s. She and my great grandfather owned a huge tobacco farm. She worked out in the fields along with her husband and ran the house. She was not who you thought of when the word belle came to mind

[@manuellubian5709]

As a teacher I'm proud to hear somebody from the south speaking up and being truthful and honest. You have no idea how difficult it is to get that notion through to some of my students that the South was not this this pretty, picture perfect, idyllic, Pollyanna environment. There was definitely some very ugly truths behind it and definitely was ALSO behind the image that others might like to portray. You are to be commended for bringing this truth out into the open. Thank You.

[@zetaking2909]

Aye, but the north and how it treated the irish, the considerably higher % of dangerous child labor(heavy industry and mining jobs Vrs farming logging and some mining). and them also treating blacks poorly (tho ironically better than how the Irish where treated) tends to get glossed over.

[@manuellubian5709]

@@zetaking2909 How / in what way were the Blacks treated better?

[@unluckyone1655]

​@zetaking2909 there is no denying the mistreatment of the Scotch Irish by the elites in the north. Company towns were sleazy in how they deliberately kept their employees in perpetual debt and their hired mercenaries aka the company police force would terrorize and brutalized any workers that tried to unionize or if they think someone was trying to raise a fuss. But there is one key difference between the downtrodden workers and indentured servants of the north and the average slave in the south. The business owners couldn't sell the children of their workers. A child born of a slave was completely beholden to the whims of their owner. They could be sold mere minutes after being born. Seriously you can't tell me that Boston wouldn't be burnt to the ground if northern business owners took that liberty with their workers

[@heathersumner4766]

Hiding ugly behind pretty is an effective tactic. Those big ass dresses are just so much fun they serve as a distraction from the horror show in the background.

[@emilyfeagin2673]

I think they would have been miserable to wear. What happens when you want to sit down? What happens if a bee gets under there? Wouldn’t they have been hot?

[@here_we_go_again2571]

@@emilyfeagin2673 The hoop skirts worn with pantaloon type undergarments (with an open seam in the back of the upper pants was actually cooler than wearing the required 4-5 petticoats before the hoop skirt was invented. Throughout the 19th century laced corsets were mandatory.

[@Laurelin70]

@@emilyfeagin2673 You can learn about that on @priorattire

[@sonorasgirl]

I mean, tbh, as an SA survivor, I’m sick and tired of my trauma being co-opted into racism. Like…racists don’t actually care about women’s safety from assault unless it gives them an excuse to harass/terrorize black men and others 🤦🏽‍♀️. Pisses me off

[@maryanntoner4520]

Rape was a capital offense in some states during the Jim Crow era. Not out of any respect for women’s bodily autonomy, of course; but because it was viewed as causing damage to a man’s property. It should come as no surprise that the majority of men tried and convicted under these laws were black men accused of raping white women.

[@s6352]

Ummm….you do realize that slavery includes SA? The slave owners routinely violated women. Science and your own eyes can prove that! After menopause and into early senior-hood females slaves were routinely eliminated by the riverside as they were no longer financially viable. 😢. Please learn some history ‼️

[@mjohnson1741]

You mean "grab 'em by the pu$$y" doesn't care about women's rights?

[@hipdip1505]

All of these southern bell info was taught to me in SC in 99-01 by a middle school teacher and she even had us watch gone with the wind. She even told us that the KKK was established to protect white women from being assaulted by black men… my mom started teaching me history at home after that. Also 8th grade history book started off sayin “Education was never important in SC”.

[@lizzirountree93]

Whoa. I grew up in SF and we had Howard Zinn as our textbook... good on your mama!!

[@lisajones1187]

Wow. I grew up in the South but had a Yankee mom and a Yankee history teacher. Thank God.

[@10000Mistakes]

Maryland born but went to college in SC and can confirm the "facts" a lot of my fellow students learned in their SC public schools were... uh, less than factual.

[@jackieedmondson8422]

My daughter and I moved to tennessee in 2010 from Pennsylvania. She was in about eighth grade and came home pretty angry because the teacher was saying that black people should not have been able to vote during jim crow era because they had no education. My daughter raised her hand and taught the teacher!!

[@10000Mistakes]

Read "Robert E. Lee and Me" for a good book written by a southerner on exactly how he (and southern men in general) become indoctrinated into these lies and myths about "Southern Honor" and the "Lost Cause" but finally discovered the truth.

[@donnahenley2882]

Thanks for this important lesson and especially for upholdig the greatness of Tammy Wynnette.

[@Bluesbabesrv]

Throw Dolly Parton in there too.

[@travcollier]

​@@BluesbabesrvI love Dolly Parton; She's a national treasure... But Tammy Wynette laid down a track with the KLF... She's a goddesses kzbin.info/www/bejne/joGYoHuCaN91esk

[@GrandduchessAnastasia-ko5rg]

​@@Bluesbabesrvand Loretta Lynn.

[@juditrotter5176]

My Dad was Mississippi born and bred. Our family was complete with Southern Baptist Ministers. I went to school in Louisiana for first and second grade and then he and my Mom, the Yankee, moved the family north eventually to Seattle. When I was growing up my Dad would say over and over again “If it’s the last thing I do I’ll make a lady out of you”. My Mom grew up in the North and valued groups of girls doing things without boys. My Dad, afraid of carpet baggers on Vashon Island?!, would say “who’s going to protect you?”

[@maryannc7223]

Very interesting. I don’t think the concept of the Southern Belle is currently being carried forward by only Southerners. I was born in the South and have lived here most of my life and I am not sure I have ever heard anyone talking about Southern Belles except when discussing Gone with the Wind - which, honestly, doesn’t happen very often. But I’ve had a friend from Chicago call my mother a Southern Belle as a compliment. I’ve had a friend from New York visit me in Atlanta and say she was surprised that there wasn’t more antebellum architecture. (“I think most of it was burned,” I replied.) In Minnesota, my 7th grade history teacher told the class that in the south we were taught that owners were nice to their slaves. (No, we weren’t). Which is to say, the misconceptions are not limited to Southerners and may even be worse outside the south. But it is good to know the origin of the Southern Belle legend.

[@voiceofreason2674]

Yea the only people who have called me a southern gentleman are people from somewhere else. Yea it's good to be polite but I'm not aware of any different etiquettes across the country. There is no region to my knowledge where it's considered polite to not know how to use silverware or something

[@LilyUnicorn]

Probably because they read xmen comics where rogue was supposed to be a modern southern belle archetype

[@LilyUnicorn]

​@@voiceofreason2674 i have only heard bs about southern manners from southerners themselves. As someone from the midwest then went to cali, then texas, then the navy. Anyone who brought up southern manners was usually originally from the south. Ever asked where these people were born or raised during childhood?

[@rayay248]

And Dolly. She’s better than all of us.

[@WildwoodSon]

My great-great grandmother was a plantation mistress. She inherited Retreat Plantation (St. Simons Island) from her father, as she was his only surviving heir. She, not her husband, owned and operated the plantation and had legal title to the enslaved Americans whose labor created the family's wealth. Try to imagine the American history I was indoctrinated with at Sunday dinner and in my private, segregated, primary school while growing up. My parents were well meaning, teaching me what they had been taught and what they believed to be true. Jim Crow was still real, though on the way out. Song of the South was presented to me as an animated documentary. If not for a liberal arts education and an innate curiosity I'd still believe that BS. I can understand why many of my contemporaries and family members still do: they believe in inherited sin and thus deny that sin. I'm a believer in the theory that the United States Congress didn't have the guts to finish the job after Lincoln's assassination and that the Civil War was won by the South during Reconstruction. We are fighting a cold (for now) civil war today. History resembles itself ...

[@cathjj840]

I'd say that lost it for everyone. Andrew Jhnson was a real pieced of work.The greedy depraved are the ones who always wind up with the loot and they always do it in ways that involve completely unnecessary vileness and cruelty.

[@mysticblue0222]

@WildwoodSon thank you for sharing your story

[@iquestion8493]

I really like how you find avenues to teach us somethin'. Thanks Trae 😊.

[@paulgodbey304]

Very well done! As a descendant of hillbilly farm boys and girls from Virginia/West Virginia, it has been a journey to deal with all the fallout from having 11 ancestors who were Confederate soldiers. I doubt that slavery was the reason for them joining the Confederate army and I don't fault them for joining, but slavery was not good reason to fight a war. It was a house of cards that had to end at some point. Defending their homes and families was likely the reasoning for most of the soldiers, but there is no way to know for sure. This nation was founded on God's Word and freedom, and God is all about freedom. Thank you for exposing the myths and bless your heart... in the good way.

[@nicole127x]

If you're interested in this dynamic, I highly recommend Florence King's autobiography, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady. I read it as a preteen in the 80s and it was totally formative for me me a gay feminist.

[@ericmgarrison]

One of my all time faves! I burst out laughing reading it in the late 80s while flying back home to the South from Europe and the flight attendant had to ask me on behalf of the passengers what channel I was listening to other could get in on it.

[@Saber23]

@@ericmgarrison and you fucking wonder why the education system is in the toilet, these are the standards you people have 🤦‍♂️

[@Saber23]

@@ericmgarrison you ain’t no man

[@jackieedmondson8422]

I have so much respect for you as a human being and a MAN living in the south. I am thinking you had wonderful intelligent parents. I love your comedy too.❤

[@Starlight_Silver]

Trae’s mom was a pill head who was in and out of jail. He was raised by his dad. His gay uncle was also close. The gay uncle being ostracized by the church opened Trae’s eyes and helped make him the Liberal Redneck he is today. Unfortunately, his mommy issues also make him hate women, which I found really disappointing. But he seems to be a good enough liberal that he’s able to overcome that, intellectually at least.

[@Saber23]

LOL neither you nor him are even close to being men 😂 he works for a pathetic Leftist propaganda organization and you probably eat up everything Western governments shove down your throat

[@GhostnisanArt]

The explanation I never knew I absolutely needed ❤

[@Saber23]

Why? This shit is so dumb 😂

[@vOtEbIdEnTosAvEdEmOcRaCy]

Thanks Trae for the context on the concept of the "southern belle"

[@embroideredragdoll]

I remember seeing a Plantation Belle Barbie when I was little and thinking “why have they made Slave owner Barbie?”

[@annalieff-saxby568]

The thing that destroyed the "Southern Belle" mythos for me was learning that there was such a fashion for emptying chamberpots on passing bluecoats that it had to be prevented by law. _Very_ charming and ladylike!

[@themaggattack]

"I definitely don't want no smoke from Charleston's answer to Snookie." 🤣💀

[@mamab4720]

Did you know that Daughter's of The Confederacy (est.1894) They formed textbook committees and pressured school boards to ban books that the UDC deemed “unjust to the South,” which was anything that shed negative light on the Confederacy.

[@ttintagel]

They were also instrumental in erecting all those statues of Confederate "heroes."

[@mamab4720]

@@ttintagel exactly, trying to rewrite history.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

1:04 ... weddings at death camps... what an appropriate analogy.... Mia should have considered decking the person suggesting a plantation wedding. 😒

[@Amigo21189]

Not all of the Nazi camps were death camps (Auschwitz was, though). Most were "labor camps" where humans the dominant sociopolitical entity didn't recognize as people were forced to work for free on threat of violence if they refuse. Sound familiar?

[@pattiaustin1808]

A friend was a bridesmaid in Oxford, Mississippi in the 90s, where the bridal party had to wear antebellum style gowns. She was appalled.

[@monicadaniels784]

Thanks Trae and crew. I'm from New York and my partner is from Georgia. I asked her why southerners always had a chip on their shoulder about northerners. She said, "Because they lost!" I guess they never thought about moving on instead of stewing in it. I was treated poorly there. To this day, country music makes me depressed thinking about my time there.

[@rhianonmatcalm]

No. The chip on the shoulder comes from long memory. Read up on the Reconstruction if you'd like to know what I mean by that. Reconstruction was hell on earth for the South.

[@persebra]

@@rhianonmatcalm By "South" you mean white Southerners. its hilarious how white nationalists like to try to define their Southern belle/old South bullshit as the"South". Reconstruction was NOT hell on earth for Black Southerners, that would be the "Redemption" and Jim Crow.

[@monicadaniels784]

@@rhianonmatcalm I think hell on earth was being a slave, being beaten, raped, and seeing your family sold like cattle.

[@medealkemy]

​@@rhianonmatcalm cool motive, still segregation

[@cathjj840]

That's because it was completely sabotaged and wound up perpetuating what it was meant to reform.@@rhianonmatcalm

[@beckiejani7782]

"You can hide centuries of human rights abuse under them!" Brlliant!

[@lsowner10]

The same women who were big slavers…

[@bushwickbaby]

This is amazing! And if anyone wants to see a film version of this "southern belle", Sarah Paulson in "12 Years A Slave" is a powerful performance and the character is horrific.

[@Loner-Wolf]

I find it interesting that throughout history that men in all cultures across the world dictate what the ideal virtuous woman should be and look like. Like virtuousness and piety is the sole responsibility of women... men can pretty much be as they are.

[@hainleysimpson1507]

Makes sense have you ssen the shit women do these days and expect from men? Also as long men protect and provide for women i don't see an issue with wanting a certain attitude from women.

[@hainleysimpson1507]

Another thing, it's more likely women doing whatever they can to secure a man that can protect provide and secure a certain lifestyle for a woman, tban him having control. Really it's women tbst control the group and family dynamics.

[@mtngrl5859]

@@hainleysimpson1507 You sound like a Plantation owner, as long as I feed them then I can do anything.

[@tenofivelips]

It's exhausting to be told who you are, what you like and what to do with your life. And weird.

[@Leviathan762-zh4lq]

​@mtngrl5859 you have it wrong i don't want anything to do with them

[@juditrotter5176]

I was certainly shocked when I had my first Mint Juleps. I was expecting something like a Mohito not a glass of whiskey sprinkled with mint leaves. My Dad and all of his family were Southern Baptist Convention adherents. With a Yankee mom living in the north I can only say my Dad was weird.

[@MelissaThompson432]

...if the floating mint leaves were muddled in sugar (something the South has plenty of) and drowned in whiskey instead of rum, it _would_ be "kind of like" a mojito. Not many people anywhere would have had ice in the antebellum South, though, so that spoils the party for those of us who grew up with electricity and refrigeration. I can see adding a lime slice to a julep, though. But a julep does start with mint leaves crushed with sugar, not merely floating in booze.

[@MelissaThompson432]

I had my first mint julep in Colonial Williamsburg. It was also my last, but that's beside the point.

[@kendallsmith1458]

SBC is a terrifying way to grow up.

[@kalayne6713]

Watching cringe worthy 'Say yes to the dress' often has women from the South and their menfolk and quite frankly, they are something to behold! I think you should be teaching this in schools, Trae.Just imagine the eye rolling as you explained this stuff to a class of 12 year olds.I would pay to see that, say in Alabama or West Virginia, places of diversity...lol.Blessings from the deep south of Australia.

[@cathjj840]

West Virginia does have some diversity. It doesn't fit the typical southern mould - more the Appalachian one (dirt poor whites).

[@ChellaTims]

I am from Alabama and I can tell you that we did learn the truth above slavery. We were not taught that it was all pretty rose gardens and dresses. We were taught the very ugly truth about slavery. On one of the field trips I was made to pick cotton, hull and then attempt to remove the seeds by hand. Not everyone in my class was made to pick cotton or it could be just because I was a bit restless and needed to keep my hands busy. The hulls will slit your fingers and then the cotton boll will get in the cuts when you're trying to remove the seeds. Since you have no idea how were educated in Alabama it's rather rude to assume or imply that we're blinded by being gently raised or just ignorant.

[@schizoidboy]

I remembering seeing something on the Jamestown site regarding slavery. In their laws (this is the colonial period, pre-revolution) if a white man had a child with a black slave than that child was going to be a slave. However, if a slave had a child with a white woman (likely she was going to be a servant or even an indentured servant - little better than a slave because their servitude was limited and after a period they would be provided land) that child was going to be free. This is not something anyone seems willing to talk about, suggesting that there were interracial relationships that were legitimate rather than forced.

[@kathleenkirchoff9223]

I think this video feeds more stereo types than it dispels myths. Being born and raised in the South, I never heard any Southerner sugar coat slavery. It was an ugly realities but one that only a few (1-5 %) rich people could afford. So it was my Commanche ancestors not the confederate that owned slaves. The Southern Belle ideal I was raised with had nothing to do with slavery. It was all about manners and how to be a steel magnolia. That means just looking soft and sweet but being strong and smart. The modern South has risen above the mistakes of the civil war and Jim Crow era and videos that sensationalized those are really just divisive and do nothing to improve society.

[@LilyUnicorn]

The modern southern youth below the age of 30 maybe, but straight up i still hear southerners romanticize that bs in the old folk and a mix bag of those in their 30s. Because 30s age group is when internet was sort of getting popular and you can see how internet knowledge really impacted youth for those below 30s

[@WynneTegyn]

I don't think Dolly would call herself a Southern Belle, but as southern women go, she is definitely better than any mere mortal.

[@memathews]

Excellent video, Trae

[@verseapocalyptica668]

Good stuff, Trae! I like this new format.

[@megagrey]

Let's face it, there's only one Southern Belle worth admiring in fiction: Rogue. Takes orders from a black woman to go bash bigots and their giant robots into submission.

[@beckiejani7782]

Thanks, I'll have to check that out.

[@TheCrotchetyoldwoman]

Also, remember the courage of southern women like the Grimke sisters who gave up a life of extreme wealth and comfort because slavery offended their deeply held Christian values. Surely, in the ways that really matter, these were the truly beautiful daughters daughters of the south!

[@katw5840]

and Dolly.

[@chronic_payne5669]

She’s no Southern Belle and would probably be right offended at the accusation

[@madiantin]

I'm English, so knew in a distant historical way about plantations, but didn't really *know*, even though I moved to the Nashville area some years ago. A couple of years ago I bicycled down the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez. At one point in Mississippi the only place available near the Trace for me to stay was on an old plantation. At first I didn't think much of it. But then as I was cycling through the little town to the plantation I went through a poor community that was predominantly black. After cycling through it I crossed a road and went onto the plantation. It was beautiful, on top of a hill. That's when I started to feel uncomfortable. I wondered if that black community had at some point been slave quarters. The room I stayed in was very nice....but the information about it was clear that this had been a room of one of the daughters of the house. It had a little room off the side and I wondered if at some point that's where the daughter's slave had slept, ready to wait on her mistress. Maybe not. Maybe it had just been a closet or something. Who knows. But that whole experience was very uncomfortable for me. Uncomfortable enough that in the future I will avoid staying in places like that. It was weird to me that the whole history is romanticized. How can something so awful be romantic?

[@hainleysimpson1507]

Romantic for those that used to be in power. Like Cubans outside Cuba crying about how castro kicked them out, when the American mafia and government were draining cuba dry and working people to death.

[@blowitoutyourcunt7675]

The same way that most Americans only understand The Blitz through melodrama... if all you've ever seen about it was Gone with the Wind (or a BBC romance set in the Blitz) youd think that was fact. Seriously I didn't get how devastating The Blitz was until I learned about it in History Class, way after I saw that melodramatic romance piece on Masterpiece Theater via PBS.

[@mtngrl5859]

Well, if you are from the UK you know that all of the great homes there had servants live in some undesirable part of the home. They were housed in damp basements or in the Attic. Often these areas were poorly ventilated. In the 19th century most of the people "in service" were virtually enslaved people. One worked 6 days week and Sunday was a partial day off, so one could go to church. A scullery maid made about 15 pounds/year.

[@MarkWendland]

So, I guess this means Gone with the Wind isn't historically accurate.

[@sherylhoward4831]

Ah yes, the epitome of the lost cause!

[@kathleenstoin671]

Absolutely right. It's Margaret Mitchell's fantasy of that Era. She based it on the stories of white people who were alive during the Civil War. Of course they portrayed their treatment of slaves as kindly benevolent employers. So convenient to forget whippings and breeding farms and back breaking labor!

[@LilyUnicorn]

Nope. They even say it themselves in rereleases

[@hope4now]

Love you Trae!❤ Thanks for all you do!

[@acester86]

"Oh have you not seen...my face, no" lmao

[@marianlincoln9008]

Oh Lawdy me... Im so desirable that no one can resist my spoiled racist persona... So much B.S. we could repair the damage done to tge soil from raising cotton over and over and over again.. Depleting the nutrients in the soil...

[@jonathandorr2234]

You are on to the thread, that is more subtle than history. I’m that northern liberal, that inadvertently dislikes my own people. What we’ve learned, is the result of manipulation festivals, that insecure people design for us.. I fought it for 60 yrs, and I’ll likely just leave the country, before..🤔

[@tonyjones1560]

I can relate. I’m a black man, stone cold Independent and a combat veteran. At nearly 61 years of age, it’s only recently occurred to me that I paid one hell of a price to fix a mess that I didn’t make. Almost time to retire and pull up stakes…

[@user-ku6tr4vd6z]

The image of pre-civil war America, both south and north, is largely drawn from the post-war era, and encompasses all sorts of distortions that better reflect America after the war. The entire concept of a "southern belle" didn't exist in the days of slavery. It just wasn't a thing. It's a term that was coined post-war for the reasons this vid does a good job of outlining.

[@southernlanie]

I think it was insensitive for you to suggest it’s worse than holocaust denial. Outside of that, I agree. And while I am from the south, I am not a southern Belle.

[@davemcelderry7086]

If a southern woman doesn't like you, you'll be the last to know. Bless her heart 😂

[@pixiebells]

This is really fascinating and I think unpacking the context & history of how it happened is very important. But I can still admire the beauty of the aesthetic. Speaking of, this reminds me of something related I found to be extremely interesting. I was watching a lot of RuPaul's Drag Race in quarantine. In one of the first challenges of a new season, the contestants did a photoshoot that was similar to some famous scene in Gone With the Wind (I don't remember which one; I haven't seen the film in years) and it was chosen because RuPaul said it's one of his favorite movies. Seeing as RuPaul is a black drag queen (and I think he grew up in the South? I don't remember,) I'd be very interested to see what your take on that was. Great video! ❤

[@mahatmarandy5977]

Just as a footnote: DW Griffith apologized for Birth of a Nation. He was born and raised out west, and he got all these stories about how great the KKK was from his grandfather who told him stories, which DW believed because why wouldn’t he? He was a dumb kid. He got the option to make a movie of “The Klansman” and (at least to hear him and his people tell it) he had absolutely no idea how awful the klan was until people pointed it out to him afterwards, and he was allegedly pretty aghast. Even moreso because his damn movie led to a revival of the KKK, which was effectively dead before it came out. His next movie, “Broken Blossom,” is about an interracial romance (or at leas as much of one as he could get away with) and is widely seen as his apology for Birth of a Nation. None of this is me trying to justify the movie’s entirely fucked up portrayal of the Civil War, or, more importantly, Reconstruction (which is where the real evil of the film kicks in), this is just me trying to provide context and thereby justify all those useless film courses I took in college

[@weston.weston]

That was a great segment, Trae.

[@olderthandirt7061]

I was born and raised in the south. It's so funny to me that people think "Southern Bells" are fragile. I've seen southern women work in the fields and factories all day and then go home to take care of their children, husbands, and houses. I've seen southern women that don't even make it to five feet tall make grown men tremble in their tracks with little more than a word or two. I've seen southern women stand ramrod straight when bombarded with physical, emotional, and/or financial devastation. They come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. While some might be ding-a-lings, I don't know any that are fragile.

[@CanItAlready]

That's because those women aren't southern belles. They're real people. The men who created the fantasy would have HATED the women they were describing because they were pretty much useless, helpless, completely dependent blobs. The women who are romanticizing it now don't seem to get that it reduced women to property, which is something conservatives are still doing. Not too long ago Jordan Peterson said sexual assault should be treated like a property crime where the offense is against the man rather than the woman who is assaulted.

[@CanItAlready]

That's because those women aren't southern belles. They're real people. The men who created the fantasy would have HATED the women they were describing because they were pretty much useless, helpless, completely dependent blobs. The women who are romanticizing it now don't seem to get that it reduced women to property, which is something conservatives are still doing. Not too long ago Jordan Peterson said sexual assault should be treated like a property crime where the offense is against the man rather than the woman who is assaulted.

[@chronic_payne5669]

You’re so wrapped up in your Souther upbringing you completely missed the point

[@moniqueengleman873]

👏👏👏👏Thank you. I agree completely. I just think Southern women knows how to run the world without fear.

[@LilyUnicorn]

😅😂😂what in the world did the common modern southern woman have to do with filthy rich southern women with slaves to beckon? Southern belles did not refer to all women back in the day, heck, it still doesnt today though its meaning has broadened.

[@shinnam]

The Junior League is an aspirational incarnation of the Southern Bell myth. The image of the southern bell is a way of "keeping women in their place" Had more culture shock moving from northern Missouri to western Kentucky than moving from the US to S. Korea.

[@srami004]

Down here in FL, I’ve passed two homes with the Confederate flag.

[@retriever19golden55]

Only two? I see more than that driving by run-down shacks here in Central NY.

[@nsteiler1]

I couldn’t take that mentality any longer. Moved back to New York. This is 2023, get with the program people!

[@yugandali]

Mary Chestnut lived in a slave holding family in SC. She recounts how the men raped the enslaved women and the “lady” of the house had to put up with it, often by taking out her fury on the raped victim.

[@maryanntoner4520]

The lady of the house also had to see daily reminders of this in the faces of enslaved children who resembled her husband (or her sons). This was another aspect of the idealization of the southern belle: as a means of elevating white women to distract from centuries of sexual violence committed against black women. Even poor white women benefited from this mentality.

[@hainleysimpson1507]

No wonder black americans are fucked up. Same ghing happened in the West Indies.

[@wickedpixie949]

Thank you for this!!!

[@Anjerz]

Thank you Trae!

[@perkins1439]

I do declare I think I'm toasted from that second glass of wine

[@dArtagnan712]

I deeclayah!!!

[@michaelmartinez3674]

Hey, that's what lindsey graham says every time she's, er, uhhh, he's mentioned in the news. I notice it's almost always bad news. 🤔

[@corneliuswhite5139]

I read that in "Blanche Devereaux's'" voice.

[@dArtagnan712]

@@michaelmartinez3674 Poor Lindsey, just can't seem to get his foot out of his mouth. Bless his heart! 🤣

[@dArtagnan712]

@@corneliuswhite5139 Exactly! Now for some radical diversity, try Paul Deen, yawwll.

[@thoughtlesskills]

More American myths? Color me shocked.

[@vikinggoddess2126]

Personally I think women in the whole country could stand to be more like Julia from Designing Women. I mean the portrayal of a woman as a strong, intelligent, charming, savvy, independent, logical, no nonsense, Lady. The character may have been afluent, but any woman can have the qualities that made her a Lady.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

Just the heat humidity and bugs tell me the Southern belle is bullshit. I actually grew up on the plantation, it was hard work and outdoor life. If you read the book Gone With The Wind instead be if watching the hokum movie it’s all about hardships. Do y’all understand how much those huge hooped dresses cost? Strictly rich lady stuff.

[@suetrublu]

I like your new format!

[@kjanttigvu6887]

Brilliant! Thank you.

[@stuffedninja1337]

Can i campaign for Dolly Parton to also hold Tammy Wynette’s status of “Way better than you n’ me” I might be a northerner but that woman might just be an Angel on earth

[@user-te5po4bu8o]

Lived in the south for years, surrounded by tourist plantations. I won’t set foot on one for any reason and I’ll die on that hill.

[@beckiejani7782]

You may wish to consider the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana as an exception. It is an historical site that shows how the other 99% lived.

[@ludovico6890]

Not sure how it got into my KZbin feed, but I love this.

[@keithpodhradsky1314]

Great job!

[@juliatutor8099]

Being from the South, you are 100% accurate..

[@soniaprovard8259]

Thank you, Trae!!

[@claressalucas8922]

Before we had Karens, we had Miss Anne. If Netflix were to re-air Roots perhaps...

[@AG-iu9lv]

The Tammy Wynette nod at the end was charming. 🤩

[@jenn976]

Thank You!!

[@elizabethm888]

Thank you so much!

[@marthamurphy7940]

I object to considering southern belles my equals: "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so [locate the U.S. on a map}, because some - people out there, in our nation, don't have maps ..." Miss South Carolina 2007

[@tonywoods3149]

Thank you Trae

[@denisemcdougal6445]

Thank you

[@elizabethblakley2876]

Thanks for the education Trae and company

[@jayare6804]

aww, bless their hearts

[@here_we_go_again2571]

What was required of a southern belle was what was also required of middle class and well-to-do Victorian women, same era.

[@elebris07]

I always learn things from you and of course get to laugh as well!!

[@GoatBarn]

One of the most enlightened comment sections I have read in quite a while! ---- P.S. 02:50 - I seriously thought for a second... the man in the picture...had a laptop open...i know but it's been an exasperating day...

[@rhondalight70]

Don't forget about Dolly Parton! Besides, she's a fellow Tennessean.

[@chrisester2910]

I would also include Loretta Lynn!

[@rhondalight70]

@@chrisester2910 most definitely

[@ariel5186]

It's like Adam ruins everything... But with Trae Crowder... Fuuuuck I love it!

[@dr.prof.robtopnotch]

❤️Trae Crowder.

[@vwm8534]

I always thought it was BS. I also would never have been attracted to one the way they were portrayed.

[@Leviathan762-zh4lq]

Pretty sure they aren't attracted to you either

[@bbielka]

Do more of these trae, this is great

[@aaronhess7781]

So... the Southern Belle is just a boogie Karen.

[@derricklangford4725]

I know a whole clan of Crowders that live up here in Chicago, they settled on the Westside, but their Matriarch came from down south back in the 60s.

[@notenrique666]

The heck is a southern belle? Are they one of those “a black guy looked at me,quick, lynch him?” Types?

[@krodork]

"have we not seen my face?" frfr XD

[@dArtagnan712]

Suzanne Sugarbaker. Nuff said!

[@SharonPryor-hg9oj]

The ultimate southern belle!

[@dArtagnan712]

@@SharonPryor-hg9oj Testify!🤣

[@dArtagnan712]

@@SharonPryor-hg9oj Funniest thing I ever heard: An episode of Designing Women; they're all sitting around with their men, talking about why they got together. When it's Dash Goff's, (Suzanne's ex-husband and current beau), turn he thinks for a moment and says, "Well, you know I always wanted to be a writer, but I figured I hadn't suffered enough". 🤣 Priceless!!!

[@SharonPryor-hg9oj]

@@dArtagnan712 That was a great one. Creative writers and a fabulous cast!

[@WhoWatchesThis]

I very much appreciate the disclaimer in the second half of the video. Humanizes the idea that some people might simply just like southern belles. Also, this way, even if you were misinformed about this, it doesn't change the fact that you have no problem with the style/lifestyle in the first place - aside from this history.

[@liloreoinya]

Assistant slave master. 💀💀💀💀😂😂😂😂