The Mason-Dixon Line, Past And Present – IOTW Report

The Mason-Dixon Line, Past And Present

Surveyors have left their mark on American history. George Washington began his career as a surveyor and wound up the 1st president of the U.S. In 1760 Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon choreographed their geographic skills to mediate a dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Little did they know that the Mason-Dixon Line would become an iconic part of American history. 

 The history of the Mason-Dixon Line is significant and colorful, but many delusions remain why it was created, and what it created. Over the years it has enforced political and social isolationism, sectional separatism, dividing one culture from another and good guys from bad guys. Few know the real history of this mythical line and what it’s been and not been and “what it stands for today.”      Article at Black Republican

11 Comments on The Mason-Dixon Line, Past And Present

  1. Having lived against the line all my life I can honestly say some of the most prejudiced people I know have lived on the northern side.

    And some of the most alibi IKES lived on the southern side. One church on the southern side was proud that the grave yard was segregated and sought funding to take care of “the slave graves” which had no individual markers or signs.

    Mason Dixon line still remembered here that cops couldn’t chase bad guys across even in the house that strattled the line.

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  2. Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
    With some smart-ass New York Jew
    The Jew laughed at Lester Maddox
    And the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too
    Well, he may be a fool but he’s our fool
    If they think they’re better than him they’re wrong
    So I went to the park and I took some paper along
    And that’s where I made this song

    We talk real funny down here
    We drink too much and we laugh too loud
    We’re too dumb to make it in no Northern town
    And we’re keepin’ the n*****s down

    We got no necked oilmen from Texas
    And good ol’ boys from Tennessee
    And colleges men from LSU
    Went in dumb, come out dumb too
    Hustlin’ ’round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
    Gettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecues
    And they’re keepin’ the n*****s down

    We are rednecks, we’re rednecks
    We don’t know our ass
    From a hole in the ground
    We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
    And we’re keeping the n*****s down

    Now your northern n*****’s a negro
    You see he’s got his dignity
    Down here we’re too ignorant to realize
    That the North has set the n***** free

    Yes he’s free to be put in a cage
    In Harlem in New York City
    And he’s free to be put in a cage
    On the South Side of Chicago
    And the West Side
    And he’s free to be put in a cage
    In Hough in Cleveland
    And he’s free to be put in a cage
    In East St. Louis
    And he’s free to be put in a cage
    In Fillmore in San Francisco
    And he’s free to be put in a cage
    In Roxbury in Boston
    They’re gatherin’ ’em up from miles around
    Keepin’ the n*****s down

    We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
    We don’t know our ass
    From a hole in the ground
    We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
    We’re keeping the n*****s down
    We are keeping the n*****s down

    ~ Randy Newman (1974)

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  3. that article is a mis-appropriation
    studied surveying in Philly and got into thier line. Amazing accomplishment. Astronomical surveying. With amazing accuracy. They set monuments and also, littley known, planted clay pots with iron rods in them. By the stars.
    The Line intersects an arc that defines delaware. The radius of that arc was determined by a high tide. Lord Baltimore waited for a flood.

    Here’s why it should be remembered:
    Mark Knopfler – about Jeremiah Dixon, Sailing to Philadelphia
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaQS45-YFdE

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