Historically, the term "redneck" has been used as an insult. Members of the upper class used it as a derogatory term to refer to people from the working class. One origin of the word refers to field workers and their sunburnt, red necks. Another origin relates to worker unions and their red bandanas—a red neck in the other sense.
In fact, 20th-century union workers embraced the term "Redneck" with their whole chests. As Jonny Wilkes, former writer for BBC History Revealed and History Extra, writes, the wealthy elite tried to paint "rednecks" as uneducated, politically illiterate, and uncivilized. Yet, the working class embraced that term and, even in 2018, when the teachers of West Virginia went on strike, many wore red as a nod to the state's political past.
Rednecks were involved in one of the biggest insurrections in U.S. history since the Civil War — the Battle of Blair Mountain. West Virginia coal miners had to deal with unfair and sometimes inhumane working conditions: they were underpaid, faced danger every day on the job, and their livelihoods were completely dependent on coal companies.
Essentially, miners lived in towns that were controlled entirely by the companies. All the basic facilities like schools, hospitals, shops, and even churches were owned by the coal companies, and those who lived in miners' towns had to use the special currency called scrip. If a worker dared to disagree with their boss, they were either kicked out or faced violence from company mercenaries.
So, the workers finally rose up, and their armed uprising culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain. The battle lasted for five days; the workers all wore red bandanas, but the government managed to suppress the rebellion when President Warren G. Harding sent in federal troops. Some historians say that this was the event that cemented the term "Redneck" into Americans' consciousness.
"Redneck," "hillbilly," even "white trash" — to some, these terms might be interchangeable. They describe a person residing in the U.S. Southern region, maybe in Appalachia, living in a house where the Confederate flag is flying high, and who feels particularly strongly about the Second Amendment. But writer Scott McClanahan, author of Crapalachiaand Hill William, says that people become rednecks and "white trash" by doing, and that being a hillbilly is a state of mind.
"Redneck is a state of action. You do things to be a redneck. Shoot guns, drink domestic beer, support right-wing politics. White trash, hick, etc. are states of being. You are these things because of what you are. Class, worldview, etc.," McClanahan, a native of West Virginia, explained to VICE. "Hillbilly is a state of mind, though. It’s metaphysical and ephemeral and contradictory."
Nevertheless, people who live in rural communities in the U.S. have reclaimed the term "redneck" to associate it with pride. Linguist and author Geoff Nunberg writes for NPR that the resurgence of "redneck" came in the 1970s. Songs like Johnny Russell's "Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer" and Ronnie Milsap's "Just a Redneck at Heart" made being a redneck "a badge of working-class patriotism and authenticity, as contrasted with the PC airs and affectations of the coastal elites."
