“L” is for Lintheads. A disparaging nickname for cotton mill workers, of unknown origin, “lintheads” is sometimes equated with the term “white trash.” “Linthead had both a literal and a figurative meaning. A veritable snowstorm of cotton lint in the mills covered workers from head to toe. The term also differentiated mill workers from farmers and townspeople, the other major components of the White population. As their ranks grew from 2,000 in 1880 to more than 71,000 by 1930, mill workers became an obvious social presence as well as a political force in South Carolina. Mill workers became the backbone of support for the controversial governor and U.S. senator Cole Blease. Cotton mill workers who played a critical role in the modernization of the South Carolina economy made the “linthead” epithet a badge of honor.
“L” is for Lintheads
