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This article explores the sociology of the southern region in the U.S. In reference, the Mid-South Sociological Association, is examined. Being uninstitutionalized, the organization varies from year to year as its president and executive council change. The conception of the South as a distinctive region was well established by 1800. Perhaps the oldest explanation for the distinctive character of the South is the Anglo-Saxon blood and cultural tradition of the South. However, the explanation which is based on what was then called race, was rejected by many. Some thought instead that it was slavery that made the South distinctive.