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Edited paragraph on 'cracking' of whips more extensively. The whip-'cracking' etymology applies to whipping of both slaves and draft animals, per cited source no. 4; source no. 6 gives only animals in its citations.
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There are multiple explanations of the [[etymology]] of "cracker", most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier.
There are multiple explanations of the [[etymology]] of "cracker", most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier.


One theory holds that the term derives from the 'cracking' of whips, either by slave foremen in the antebellum South against [[Slavery in the United States|African slaves]], or by rustics against their draft animals.<ref>{{Citation | last=Smitherman | first= Dr. Geneva | title = Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner | publisher= Houghton Mifflin Books | year = 2000}}, 100 pp.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last= Herbst | first= Philip H | title = The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States |publisher= Intercultural Press | year = 1997}}, 6z1 pp.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Major |first= Clarence |title= Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang | publisher = Puffin Books |year= 1994 |isbn= 0‐14‐051306‐X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Thornton | first = Richard H |title= An American Glossary |publisher= JB Lippincott |year = 1912}}</ref> Those white foremen or rural poor who cracked their whips thus became known as "crackers."
One theory holds that the term derives from the "cracking" of whips, either by slave foremen in the antebellum South against [[Slavery in the United States|African slaves]], or by rustics against their draft animals.<ref>{{Citation | last=Smitherman | first= Dr. Geneva | title = Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner | publisher= Houghton Mifflin Books | year = 2000}}, 100 pp.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last= Herbst | first= Philip H | title = The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States |publisher= Intercultural Press | year = 1997}}, 6z1 pp.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Major |first= Clarence |title= Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang | publisher = Puffin Books |year= 1994 |isbn= 0‐14‐051306‐X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Thornton | first = Richard H |title= An American Glossary |publisher= JB Lippincott |year = 1912}}</ref> Those white foremen or rural poor who cracked their whips thus became known as "crackers."


[[Image:Remington A cracker cowboy.jpg|thumb|A "cracker cowboy" with his [[Florida Cracker Horse]] and dog by [[Frederick Remington]], 1895]]
[[Image:Remington A cracker cowboy.jpg|thumb|A "cracker cowboy" with his [[Florida Cracker Horse]] and dog by [[Frederick Remington]], 1895]]

Revision as of 12:41, 17 July 2013

"A pair of Georgia crackers" as depicted by James Wells Champney from The Great South by Edward King, 1873

Cracker, sometimes white cracker or cracka, is a derogatory term for white people,[1] especially poor rural whites in the Southern United States. In reference to a native of Florida or Georgia, however, it is sometimes used in a neutral or positive context and is sometimes used self-descriptively with pride.[2]

Etymology

There are multiple explanations of the etymology of "cracker", most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier.

One theory holds that the term derives from the "cracking" of whips, either by slave foremen in the antebellum South against African slaves, or by rustics against their draft animals.[3][4][5][6] Those white foremen or rural poor who cracked their whips thus became known as "crackers."

A "cracker cowboy" with his Florida Cracker Horse and dog by Frederick Remington, 1895

Another whip-derived theory is based on Florida's "cracker cowboys" of the 19th and early 20th centuries; distinct from the Spanish vaquero and the Western cowboy. Cracker cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were cow whips and dogs.[7][citation needed]

An alternative theory holds that the term comes from the common diet of poor whites. The 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica supposes that the term derives from the cracked (kernels of) corn which formed the staple food of this class of people.[8]

Examples of usage

As early as the 1760s, this term was in use by the upper class planters in the British North American colonies to refer to Scots-Irish and English settlers in the south, most of whom were descendants of English bond servants. A letter to the Earl of Dartmouth reads:

"I should explain to your Lordship 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."[9]

Frederick Law Olmsted, a prominent landscape architect from Connecticut, visited the South as a journalist in the 1850s and wrote that "some crackers owned a good many Negroes, and were by no means so poor as their appearance indicated."[10]

In 1947, the student body of Florida State University voted on the name of their athletic symbol. From a list of more than 100 choices, Seminoles was selected. The other finalists, in order of finish, were Statesmen, Rebels, Tarpons, Fighting Warriors, and Crackers.[11][12]

Georgia Cracker label depicting a boy with peaches

Crackin' Good Snacks (a division of Winn-Dixie, a Southern grocery chain) has sold crackers similar to Ritz crackers under the name "Georgia Crackers". They sometimes were packaged in a red tin with a picture of The Crescent, an antebellum plantation house in Valdosta, Georgia.

"Cracker" has also been used as a proud or jocular self-description. With the huge influx of new residents from the North, "cracker" is used informally by some white residents of Florida and Georgia ("Florida cracker" or "Georgia cracker") to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations. However, the term "white cracker" is seldom used self-referentially and remains an offensive racial slur used to demean Caucasians.[13]

Before the Milwaukee Braves baseball team moved to Atlanta, Georgia, the Atlanta minor league baseball team was known as the "Atlanta Crackers". The team existed under this name from 1901 until 1965. They were members of the Southern Association from their inception until 1961, and members of the International League from 1961 until they were moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1965. However, it is suggested the name was derived from players "cracking" the baseball bat and this origin makes sense[citation needed] when considering the Atlanta Negro League Baseball team was known as the "Atlanta Black Crackers".

The Florida Cracker Trail is a route which cuts across southern Florida, following the historic trail of the old cattle drives. In this context, the term refers to the cracking of the whips used by the Florida drovers.

Singer-songwriter Randy Newman, on his socio-politically themed album Good Old Boys (1974) uses the term "cracker" on the song "Kingfish" ("I'm a cracker, You one too, Gonna take good care of you"). The song's subject is Huey Long, populist Governor and then Senator for Louisiana (1928–1935). The term is also used in "Louisiana 1927" from the same album, where the line "Ain't it a shame what the river has done to this poor cracker's land" is attributed to President Coolidge.

In his speech "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X used the term "cracker" in reference to white people in a pejorative context.[14] In one passage, he remarked, "It's time for you and me to stop sitting in this country, letting some cracker senators, Northern crackers and Southern crackers, sit there in Washington, D.C., and come to a conclusion in their mind that you and I are supposed to have civil rights. There's no white man going to tell me anything about my rights."[14]

In 2008, former President Bill Clinton used the term "cracker" on Larry King Live to describe white voters he was attempting to win over for Barack Obama: "You know, they think that because of who I am and where my politic[al] base has traditionally been, they may want me to go sort of hustle up what Lawton Chiles used to call the 'cracker vote' there."[15]

On June 27, 2013, in the trial of George Zimmerman, concerning the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the term "cracker" was mentioned in courtroom testimony. A witness under examination testified that Martin said (on the phone) to her that a "creepy ass cracker is following me" moments before the altercation between Martin and Zimmerman occurred. Zimmerman's attorney then asked the witness if that was an offensive term, to which the witness responded "no". That testimony and response brought about both media and public debate about the use of the word "cracker".

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Cracker Definition from the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
  2. ^ Ste. Claire, Dana (2006). Cracker: Cracker Culture in Florida History. University Press of Florida.
  3. ^ Smitherman, Dr. Geneva (2000), Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner, Houghton Mifflin Books, 100 pp.
  4. ^ Herbst, Philip H (1997), The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States, Intercultural Press, 6z1 pp.
  5. ^ Major, Clarence (1994). Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang. Puffin Books. ISBN 0‐14‐051306‐X. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  6. ^ Thornton, Richard H (1912). An American Glossary. JB Lippincott.
  7. ^ Tasker, Georgia (February 6, 2007). "Rancher preserves Florida's Cracker history". The Miami Herald. Retrieved February 21, 2007.
  8. ^ "Cracker". Encyclopædia britannica. 1911 Encyclopedia. 2006-08-25 [1911]. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  9. ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/Folklife/CustomsandLocalTraditions&id=h-552
  10. ^ Olmsted, Frederick Law (1856). Our Slave States. Dix & Edwards. p. 454.
  11. ^ "FSU Adopts Seminoles as the Nickname for Athletic Teams". Nolefan.org. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  12. ^ "www.garnetandgreat.com". www.garnetandgreat.com. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  13. ^ "Project 21 Release: Black Network Suggests Apology from Rainbow Coalition After Official Calls NASCAR Fans "Cracker" and "Redneck"". Nationalcenter.org. 2003-07-09. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  14. ^ a b "The Ballot or the Bullet". Retrieved 25 March 2012. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  15. ^ Smith, Ben (2008-09-24). "Bill Clinton: Will respect Jewish holidays, then 'hustle up ... cracker vote' in Florida – Ben Smith". Politico.Com. Retrieved 2010-11-01.

Further reading

  • Brown, Roger Lyle. Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit: The Culture Festivals in the American South (1997)
  • Burke, Karanja. "Cracker"
  • Croom, Adam M. "Slurs." Language Sciences 33 (May 2011): 343–358.
  • Cassidy, Frederic G. Dictionary of American Regional English. Harvard University Press, Vol. I, 1985: 825–26
  • De Graffenried, Clare. "The Georgia Cracker in the Cotton Mills." Century 41 (February 1891): 483–98.
  • Keen, George Gillett and Wwilliams, Sarah Pamela. Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives: The Florida Reminiscences of George Gillett Keen and Sarah Pamela Williams edited by James M Denham and Canter Brown. U of South Carolina Press 2000/
  • McWhiney, Grady. Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988).
  • McWhiney, Grady. Confederate Crackers and Cavaliers. (Abilene, Tex.: McWhiney Foundation Press, c. 2002. Pp. 312. ISBN 1-893114-27-9, collected essays
  • Major, Clarence (1994). Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang. Puffin Books.
  • Otoo, John Solomon. "Cracker: The History of a Southeastern Ethnic, Economic, and Racial Epithet," Names' 35 (1987): 28–39.
  • Osley, Frank L. Plain Folk of the Old South (1949)
  • Presley, Delma E. "The Crackers of Georgia," Georgia Historical Quarterly 60 (summer 1976): 102–16.


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