Hillbilly

Hillbilly is a word used for people who live in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, mainly in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, the word has spread northward and westward.

The first known use of "hillbilly" in print were in The Railroad Trainmen's Journal (vol. ix, July 1892),^[1] an 1899 photograph of men and women in West Virginia labeled "Camp Hillbilly",^[2] and a 1900 New York Journal article with the definition: "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him".^[3]

The stereotype of hillbillies can be seen as both positive and negative. "Hillbillies" are often seen as independent individuals who are against the modernization of society, but at the same time they are also seen as old-fashioned and violent.^[4]