Many people have asked what the significance is of my use of crackers. The origin of the term cracker is disputed but clearly seems to originate chiefly in Georgia and Florida. The term may refer to people who cracked whips over their oxen and mules taking cotton to market, or cracking corn. Although history does not leave a clear record of how the term originated, it came to signify poor whites and often illiterate emigrants from Scotland, Ireland, or Germany. Bill Clinton used the term “cracker” to refer to the white votes he was intending to win over for Barack Obama. Whatever the origin of the term, I use the cracker as a metaphor for a person with white skin, hence the name of the Cracker Dress: “White Girl’s Birthday Suit.”

​

Cracker dress photographed by Natalie Tranelli