The future of the GOP's demographics

[muon2]

Griff's maps define the Upland South, which is not exactly the same as the Upper South. The Upland South is defined by topography, and the Cotton Belt is just below it in elevation. By that measure Birmingham is in the Upland South. The Upper South is a group of states defined in contrast to the Deep South. The Deep South historically refers to those Southern states that were in the Confederacy at the time of the attack on Ft Sumter (SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX), so the Upper South included the remaining states of the Confederacy (VA, NC, TN, AR). Modern usage tends to add some border states to the Upper South (most commonly KY and WV), just as it sometimes drops some from the Deep South (TX and FL), due to demographic changes since the Civil War.