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2012 Hillbillies, Rednecks, Crackers and White Trash Anthony Harkins Western Kentucky University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Anthony Harkins, “Hillbillies, Rednecks, Crackers, and White Trash,” The eN w Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, v. 20: Social Class (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 367-70. http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=2798

This Contribution to Book is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hillbillies, Crackers, Rednecks, and White Trash The myriad labels for poor and working-class white southerners have long been used as pejorative putdowns an~ embraced as markers of regional and cultural identity. Although ver­ nacular usage almost certainly goes back in time much further, appear­ ances in print of the dominant terms for these people on tlte social and economic fringe date back to at least the 18th cen­ tury. The term "cracker" first appeared in the 1760s whereas "P90r white trash" (often condensed to "po' white trash" or just "white trash") began to appear semiregularly in the 1830S, used first by African Americans to refer to nonslave­ holding whites and then by wealthier whites as a means of stigm~tizing and

ERS, REDNECKS, AND WHITE TRASH 367 , 'i I denigrating nonblaclRedneck" and "hillbilly" British colonists' settling of the trans­ J ; i date only to the turn of the 20th cenc Appalachian West. By the turn of the . ;;j tury, both first appearing in th~ explic­ 19th century, the term had extended to r,: I, itly political context of supporters or poor whites of the Georgia and Florida '''1 opponents of southern politicians but frontiers (perhaps because they were quickly thereafter expanding to other reliant on a diet of cracked corn or per­ social and cultural settings. haps because of the cracking sounds of These derisive labels and other their whips as they drove livestock to similar tenDS were intended to in­ market). By the early 20th century, the .. dicate a diet rooted in scarcity ("clay once primarily derogatory term evolved 1;' eater," "corn-crackeri' "rabbit twister"), into an accepted, even celebrated, label physical appearance and clothing that of regional identity (as evidenced by denoted hard and specifically working­ the Atlanta Crackers minor-league class laboring conditions ("redneck," baseball team, 1901-65, and its African "wool hat," "lint head"), an animal-like American counterparts, the Atlanta existence on the economic and physical Black Crackers, 1919-52). Nonethe- fringes of society ("brush ape," "ridge less, in the late 20th century it could r~ner," "briar hopper"), ignorance still easily be reapplied negatively, espe­ and racism, and, in all cases, economic, chilly in the civil rights era, to instantly genetic, and cultural impoverishment signify, to newspaper readers and tele­ (best summed up by the pointed label vision, news viewers, racist intransigence "poor white trash"). These terms spread and the potentiality for violence. with working-class southern whites as "RedneCk" had an even more multi­ they migrated to southern and mid­ faceted provenance and Significance. western urban centers in the mid-20th Initially it literally referred to the century. In the civil rights movement physical effect of exhausting outside era of the 1950S and 1960s these descrip­ agricultural labor and, later, to a general tors, especially "cracker" and "redneck," antiprogressive sensibility. It has' there­ were widely used in news accounts and fore long been associated witJl poor dirt . by civil rights activists to emphasize the farmers both economically and politi­ backward-looking racism of southern cally (for instance, the hardscrabble lawmen and townspeople who fought supporters of Mississippi governor and integration. later senator James Vardaman dubbed Despite signifying generally the same themselves "rednecks"). Slightly later, in cultural meanings, "cracker," "redneck," the 1920S ,West Vir~a mine wars when .. j "hillbilly," and "white trash," the four striking miners wore red bandanas, it , most common of these terms, each has .was tied to radical unionization efforts. a distinct historical trajectory and con­ In the 1950S and 1960s it became syn­ notations. "Cracker" iDitially referred to onymous with virulent racism and the boastfulness and lawless attitudes of opposition to civil ri~t&. Starting in'the backcountry squatters of the late 18th 1970S its me~ing evolved again, as mil-

368 HILLBILLIES, CRACKERS, REDNECKS, AND WHITE TRASH

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.. ~ ... , .... --.~~~-----...... ~ lions of the white working class (largely mountain folk living in and outside of but not exclusively men) .worked to the region, it retained in the early 21St redefine the term as a cultural identi­ century its fundamental ambivalence, fier positioned in dual opposition to if not the social bite it once held. both the power and cultural v;Uues of . "Poor white trash," the crudest of the upper-middle class and what it per­ these terms, is nonetheless still routinely ceived to be a welfare-depend-ent and used in televised comedy and talk shows minority underclass. In the decades and even general conversation. It also since, the success of Jeff.Foxworthy's is the one that most starkly reveals the ,., i You Might Be a Redneck If ... joke fundamental tensions in all these words books and comedy routin~s and similar between a,. supposed normative racial I. cultural p!oducts have given it a more identity ("white") and an antinorma­ benign and broadly middle-class cul­ tive (indeed, uncivilized) cultural and f tural meaning but still one that indi~ social status and outlook:Throughout \ cates racial whiteness and a resistance the early 19th century the term was em­ to intellectualism. ployed for different purposes by African "IJillbilly" has proved t~ be the most Americans, abolitionists, and slavery ambiguous of these labels. Although apologists and defenders, all of whom ostensibly a term for residents of the used the label to critique (explicitly southern mountains from the Ozarks to ~r implicitly) or justify the institution the Blue Ridge, the label has been ap-. of slavery and its impact on southern plied to people and culture across the SOciety. In the early 20th century, tex­ broad interior of the nation. It has been tile mill operators and .middle-class used simultaneously to evoke, on the progreSSives who were heavily shaped one hand, degradation, violence, ani­ by the predominant Social Darwinist malism, and carnality and, on the other, view of biological social determinism romanticized rurality, cultural and also used the concept as a way of cul­ ethnic purity, pioneer heritage, and per­ turally bounding poor whites as lazy, sonal and communal independence and dirty, crinlinal, and imbecilic degener­ self. sufficiency. It thus has resonated ates who threatened national progress .. most broadly with audiences both na­ The term thus was a means to assert the tionallyand in the southern hill country unquestionable superiority of their own and has. been the most commonly used cultural valll;e system. By the late 20th such label in popular culture. It has ap­ century the term had lost altogether its plied to country music (indeed, "hill­ southern regional specificity, instead billy music" was the standard if at times becoming a generalized if increasingly contested term for the genre from the cartoonish critique of non-people of 1!?20S to the 1950g}, a range of cartoons color who rejected middle-class stan­ and. comic strips, and the title of one of dards of social advancement and ways America's most popular and influential of living. In the same manher as did Its television shows (The Beverly Hillbillies). companion terms, it thus reinforced the· Both adbpted and rejected by southern "naturalness" of middle class sensibili-

HILLBILLIES, CRACKERS, REDNECKS, ~ND WHITE TRASH 369 ties and justified ~con9mic inequality by Huber, Southern Cultures (Winter 199,5); -- blaming poor whites for their oWn lower Matt Wray. Not Quite White: White Trash social and economic status. Used as ex­ and the Boundaries of Whiteness (2.006). planatory labels, these words thus we,re ultimately means of avoiding con~erns Horton, Myles about the failures of capitalism to truly (1905-1990) BDUCATOR,

I benefit all in the society. ORGANIZER,' SOCIAL ACTIVIST. The explicitly political origins and Myl~s Horton was born in a log cabin con~equences of these terms and their near Savannah, T~nn. He learned the do~tly derogatory connotations, value of Christian responSibility for however, were hidden behind their others, the concept of social service

, , ostensibly comical overtones, particu­ for people of all social, economic, and larly for middle- and upper~class whites racial backgrounds, and the transfor­ in positions of authority, but also, in a mative nature of education from his different context and with a different ,parents, both schoolteachers and later ", ;:. intent, for working-class whites and sharecroppers. These principles contrib­ people of color. Accordingly. they have uted to his lifelong efforts to cultivate proved to be remarkably semantically social change in the South. . I and geographically malleable. As noted, " In 1924 Horton enrolled at Cumber­ since at least the 1970s, "hillbilly," "red­ land University in Lebanon, Tenn., neck," "cracker," and, more recently. to study religion and literature. At ' ~ , ,even "poor white trash" have all been, Cumberland, he railed against tradi­ ·" reappropriated by some working-class tional practices, such as hazing and , and lower-middle-class whites as badges mandatory fraternal membership. Even ·,"I .. of class and racial identity and pride. In, more Significant, Horton served as ·p -, this context, they mark opposition to president of the school's YMCA, and in p,., (or at least distincti~n from) hegemonic 1927 he attended a biracial YMCA con­ middle-class social aspirations and ference in Nashville. He supported the norms and, less explicitly, to the relative idea of laborers forming \.mions-and gain in status of Mrican ,Americans and visited nearby mills t9 promote worker's other minority social groups. As these rights. His prounion stance and his anti­ terms have been increasingly embraced segregationist practices attracted criti­ by those they were intended to deni - , cism from school administrators. grate, they have sn:etched well beyond In the summer of 1927 Horton di- , their southern origins and are now used rected a vacation Bible school program and adopted around the United States in Ozone, Tenn, To enc~urage commu­ and even Canada. nity involvement; Horton asked the stu­ ANTHONY HARKINS dents' parents to participate in informal Western Kentucky University meetings to discu~s social problems. At these well-attended forums, residents Anthony Harkins, Hillbilly: A Cultural His­ discussed local issues such as farming, , tory of an American Icon (2.004); Patrick health ser:vice~, working conditions, and

370 HORTON, MYLES

~-----'-' ~--- ties and justified ~con9mic inequality by Huber, Southern Cultures (Winter 199,5); -- blaming poor whites for their oWn lower Matt Wray. Not Quite White: White Trash social and economic status. Used as ex­ and the Boundaries of Whiteness (2.006). planatory labels, these words thus we,re ultimately means of avoiding con~erns Horton, Myles about the failures of capitalism to truly (1905-1990) BDUCATOR,

I benefit all in the society. ORGANIZER,' SOCIAL ACTIVIST. The explicitly political origins and Myl~s Horton was born in a log cabin con~equences of these terms and their near Savannah, T~nn. He learned the do~tly derogatory connotations, value of Christian responSibility for however, were hidden behind their others, the concept of social service

, , ostensibly comical overtones, particu­ for people of all social, economic, and larly for middle- and upper~class whites racial backgrounds, and the transfor­ in positions of authority, but also, in a mative nature of education from his different context and with a different ,parents, both schoolteachers and later ", ;:. intent, for working-class whites and sharecroppers. These principles contrib­ people of color. Accordingly. they have uted to his lifelong efforts to cultivate proved to be remarkably semantically social change in the South. . I and geographically malleable. As noted, " In 1924 Horton enrolled at Cumber­ since at least the 1970s, "hillbilly," "red­ land University in Lebanon, Tenn., neck," "cracker," and, more recently. to study religion and literature. At ' ~ , ,even "poor white trash" have all been, Cumberland, he railed against tradi­ ·" reappropriated by some working-class tional practices, such as hazing and , and lower-middle-class whites as badges mandatory fraternal membership. Even ·,"I .. of class and racial identity and pride. In, more Significant, Horton served as ·p -, this context, they mark opposition to president of the school's YMCA, and in p,., (or at least distincti~n from) hegemonic 1927 he attended a biracial YMCA con­ middle-class social aspirations and ference in Nashville. He supported the norms and, less explicitly, to the relative idea of laborers forming \.mions-and gain in status of Mrican ,Americans and visited nearby mills t9 promote worker's other minority social groups. As these rights. His prounion stance and his anti­ terms have been increasingly embraced segregationist practices attracted criti­ by those they were intended to deni - , cism from school administrators. grate, they have sn:etched well beyond In the summer of 1927 Horton di- , their southern origins and are now used rected a vacation Bible school program and adopted around the United States in Ozone, Tenn, To enc~urage commu­ and even Canada. nity involvement; Horton asked the stu­ ANTHONY HARKINS dents' parents to participate in informal Western Kentucky University meetings to discu~s social problems. At these well-attended forums, residents Anthony Harkins, Hillbilly: A Cultural His­ discussed local issues such as farming, , tory of an American Icon (2.004); Patrick health ser:vice~, working conditions, and

370 HORTON, MYLES

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