| Sumario: | This article examines the origin and use of the word hillbillie. The authors discuss how the origin of the word coincided with the growth of railroads in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains. This development brought numerous amounts of workers and tourists into these regions for the first time. They trace the first popular published use of the term to the April 23, 1900 issue of the "New York Journal," in an article by journalist Julian Hawthrone. They note that the term was actually published earlier and point to published uses of the word in 1898 that suggest the word may have been of African American origin. They examine the use of the term by journalist J. A. Jones and show that his use of the term suggests it was commonly used in the African American community during the 1890s.
|
|---|