In post-Civil War Reconstruction period, two pejorative slang terms were popular in the former Confederacy: carpetbagger and scalawag. Carpetbaggers were Northerners who traveled to the Union-occupied South for economic and political gain, or to help former slaves (or both). The defeated Southerners viewed them as opportunistic leeches. Scalawags were Southern natives who either suddenly felt…

My name is Patrick. I grew up in Auburn, Alabama; lived there from age 4 to 18, plus a few summers after that. I’ve been living in Philadelphia ever since. (Note: the header image is the waterfall at Chewacla State Park, about a 15-minute drive from my parents’ house in Auburn. Photo from Flickr.) About…