Redneck: Encyclopedia II - Redneck - History

Redneck - History

“Rednecks” are largely descendants of the Ulster-Scots and Lowland Scots immigrants who travelled to North America from Northern Ireland and Scotland in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The Ulster-Scots had historically settled the major part of Ulster province in northern Ireland, after previous migration from the Scottish Lowlands and Border Country. The "Celtic Thesis" of Forrest McDonald and Grady McWhiney holds that they were basically Celtic (as opposed to Anglo-Saxon), and that all Celtic groups (Scots Irish, Scottish, Welsh and others) were warlike herdsmen, in contrast to the peaceful farmers who predominated in England. James Webb (former US Secretary of the Navy) uses this thesis in his book Born Fighting to suggest that the character traits of the Scots Irish, loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and military readiness, helped shape the "American identity." Fiercely independent, and frequently belligerent, "Rednecks" perpetuated old Celtic ideas of honor and clanship. This sometimes led to conflicts such as the Hatfield-McCoy feud in West Virginia and Kentucky.

In colonial times, they were often called Rednecks and "crackers" by English neighbors. As one wrote, "I should explain ... what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."

The fledgling government inherited a huge debt from the American Revolutionary War. One of the steps taken to pay down the debt was a tax imposed in 1791 on distilled spirits. Large producers were assessed a tax of six cents a gallon. However, smaller producers, most of whom were Scottish or Irish descent located in the more remote areas, were taxed at a higher rate of nine cents a gallon. These rural settlers were short of cash to begin with, and lacked any practical means to get their grain to market other than fermenting and distilling it into relatively portable distilled spirits. From Pennsylvania to Georgia, the western counties engaged in a campaign of harassment of the federal tax collectors. "Whiskey Boys" also made violent protests in Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. [1] This civil disobedience eventually culminated in armed conflict in the Whiskey Rebellion.

“Rednecks,” and especially Tennesseeans, are known for their martial spirit. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State" for the overwhelming, unexpected number of Tennesseans who volunteered for duty in the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Texas Revolution (including the defense of the Alamo), and especially the Mexican War. During the Civil War, poor whites did most of the fighting and the dying on both sides of the conflict. Although poor southern whites stood to gain little from secession, and were usually ambivalent to the institution of slavery, they were fiercely defensive of their territory and loyal to their homes and families.

Although slaves fared the worst by far, many poor whites had a hard "row to hoe," as well. The disruptions of the Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction mired African Americans in a new poverty and dragged many more whites into a similar abyss. Sharecropping and tenant farming trapped families for generations, as did emerging industries, which paid low wages and imposed company-town restrictions (see Carpetbagger). Once-proud yeomen frequently became objects of ridicule, and sometimes they responded angrily and even viciously, often lashing out at blacks in retaliation. "Poor whites" (meaning, financially destitute) were increasingly labeled "poor white trash" (meaning, financially and genetically worse off than most) and worse; “cracker,” "clay eater," "linthead," "peckerwood," "buckra," and especially "redneck" only scratched the surface of rejection and slander. Northerners and foreigners played this game, but the greatest hostility to poor whites came from their fellow southerners, sometimes blacks but more often upper-class whites. Generally, the view of poor white southerners grew more and more negative, especially in modern movies and television, which have often stressed the negative and even the grotesque while reaching huge audiences. “Rednecks” have has borne their full share of this stereotype of lower-class southern whites who share poverty status with immigrants, blacks, and other minorities.

Although the stereotype of poor white southerner and appalachians in the early twentieth century, as portrayed in popular media, was exaggerated and even grotesque, the problem of poverty was very real. The national mobilization of troops in World War I (1917-18) invited comparisons between the South, Appalachia, and the rest of the country. Southern and Appalachian whites had less money, less education, and poorer health than white Americans in general. Only southern blacks had more handicaps. In the 1920s and 1930s matters became worse when the boll weevil and the dust bowl devastated the South's agricultural base and its economy. The Great Depression was a difficult era for the already disadvantaged in the South and Appalachia. In an echo of the Whiskey Rebellion, "Rednecks" escalated their production and bootlegging of Moonshine whiskey. To deliver the whisky and avoid law enforcement and tax agents, cars were "souped-up" to create a more maneuverable and faster car. Many of the original drivers of Stock car racing were former bootleggers and "Ridge-Runners."

World War II (1941-45) began the great economic revival for the South and Appalachia. In and out of the armed forces, unskilled southern and appalachian whites, and many African Americans as well, were trained for industrial and commercial work they had never dreamed of attempting, much less mastering. Military camps grew like mushrooms, especially in Georgia and Texas, and big industrial plants began to appear across the once rural landscape. Soon, blue-collar families from every nook and cranny of the South and Appalachia found their way to white-collar life in metropolitan areas like Atlanta. By the 1960s blacks had begun to share in this progress, but not all rural Southerners and Appalachians were beneficiaries of this recovery.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki