pumpkin lads

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated Wed, 19 May 2004 18:14:02 -0400,   George Thompson
<george.thompson at NYU.EDU> quotes
>
>  This day, at 12 o'clock, two Boats, the YANKEE and the SNIPE, start from
> Powles Hook to Courtlandt street wharf, for one hundred Dollars; the former
> to be rowed with four, and the latter with six oars.  The YANKEE is to be
> rowed by four pumpkin lads, and is, as yet, the favorite.  The SNIPE is
very
> deceitful, and if not closely watched, will give her antagonist the DODGE.
N-
> Y Gazette & General Advertiser, February 16, 1808, p. 3, col. 1
>
>  I have seen reports on this race in several other newspapers, but none
give
> any idea of what a "pumpkin lad" might be.  A story in the Gazette the next
> day included the interesting sidelight: "The Snipe was rowed by six
negroes,
> who pulled a good strong oar, but they were not so dexterous as the PUMPKIN
> LADS."  N-Y Gazette & General Advertiser, February 17, 1808, p. 3, col.

It would appear from "rowed by six negroes" that boat racing in New York
circa 1808 was racially segregated, or at least performed by racially segregated
crews.  I suggest therefore that "pumpkin boys" means "mulattos".  Compare
"yellow" as in  "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (about the singer's mulatto girlfriend,
the song quite possibly having been written by a darker-skinned
African-American) meaning "light-skinned mulatto".

Aside: it is interesting that "yellow" has been a racial epithet for at least
two centuries now, but changed the race it was epitheting from African (or
mixed African-white) to Asian.

       - James A. Landau