alternatehistory.com

There is a fringe political ideology today which was founded in 1994 called Southern Nationalism and represented by an organization called the League of the South. It is absolutely repugnant. It is basically a European style ethnic nationalist ideology which sees Anglo Celtic white southerners as a nation in the sense of the Bible a tribe united by ancestry, race, religion, language, culture, and identity. It basically resurrects the most reactionary and extreme forms of thought from Antebellum southern writings and gains its inspiration from people like Goerge Fitzhugh and Robert Barnwell Rhett and is anti enlightenment and sees hierarchy in race, gender, and social organization as natural and egalitarianism as a anathema. The League of the Souths founder Dr. Michael Hill has said that hes a segregationist and has many times voiced the opinion that blacks are inferior to whites and that Jews are evil Edomite impostors. It is very anti American and sees the United States of America as an evil multicultural empire and generally holds to the lost cause version of history when it comes to the Civil War and southern history which sees the south as a victim of imperialism in the same way Ireland was to the English. They believe that the South is not a part of mainstream American civilization but rather is an extension of the plantation societies of the Caribbean and Latin America. The organization's main goal is for the states that constitute the American South to peacefully secede from the Union and form their own independent nation state.

Of course they will get nowhere in their aims and will not succeed in their goals because most southerners today are not racist, pretty much believe in enlightenment democratic ideals, and follow a version of evangelical Christianity which holds the Jews in a very high regard. Most southerners today would find the ideals of these southern nationalists abhorrent. There's also the fact that the south's distinctiveness and gung ho patriotism about being from the south are (sadly) fading with time and the immigration of hordes of Yankees to the southern states.

However, while these views are anathema to today's southerners I cant help but wonder what would happen if this movement was founded during the early 20th century from 1900 to the end of the civil rights era. Back then the confederate culture of the south was still very strong. Heck, they were all pretty much half way there already. How big could this movement get and would it find any more success back then than it would now?
Top