The N-word at the time of Huck Finn

[Barbara Need]

I am grading papers about racism in _Huck FInn_ and several students
have said something implying that _nigger_ was offensive at either the
time the book is set or the time Twain was writing (or both). I have
not found anything very useful in the archives. Do we know how
offensive the word was in the 19th century?

Barbara

Barbara Need

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