Red neck

Redneck is a term, historically derogatory but increasingly reclaimed, for white Americans stereotyped as crude, unsophisticated and rural, strongly associated with the American South. It most likely began as a description of the sunburned necks of farmers who worked outdoors, entering common usage by the 1930s. By around 1900 the word already marked poor white farmers aligned with particular factions of the Democratic Party, and by 1910 Mississippi supporters of one such faction wore red neckerchiefs to rallies and embraced the label themselves; coal miners who wore red bandannas during labor disputes in the 1920s used the term in a similar spirit of solidarity. By the 1970s its meaning had broadened beyond economic class to also imply racism, crassness and resistance to social change, though many white Southerners have since reclaimed redneck as a proud badge of regional identity. It sits alongside related terms such as cracker, hillbilly and white trash, each tied to its own region or class stereotype within working class white America.