Cracker (term)

For other uses, see Cracker (disambiguation).

"A pair of Georgia crackers" as depicted by illustrator James Wells Champney in the memoir The Great South by Edward King, 1873

Cracker, sometimes cracka or white cracker, is a racial epithet directed towards white people,[1][2][3] used especially with regard to poor rural whites in the Southern United States.[4] Although commonly a pejorative, it is also used in a neutral context, particularly in reference to a native of Florida or Georgia (see Florida cracker and Georgia cracker).[5]

  1. ^ Cash, Wilbur Joseph (1941). The Mind of the South. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780679736479. Archived from the original on August 26, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  2. ^ Foreman, Tom. "'Cracker' conveys history of bigotry that still resonates". CNN. Cable News Network. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  3. ^ "Cracker". Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  4. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cracker" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 359. In the southern states of America, "cracker" is a term of contempt for the "poor" or "mean whites," particularly of Georgia and Florida
  5. ^ Ste. Claire, Dana (2006). Cracker: Cracker Culture in Florida History. University Press of Florida.