Antedating of "White Trash"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Rather late for  a witchcraft trial (though there was a resurgence in the 1980's) as well as the single-g spelling {niger}.

  JL

Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Fred Shapiro
Subject: Antedating of "White Trash"
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white trash (OED 1831)

1822 _Bangor Register_ 1 Aug. 1/4 (19th Century U.S. Newspapers)
_Georgetown, D C May 4. A very novel and whimsical trial_ came on in our
Circuit Court on Thursday last, Nancy Swann, a lady of color whose mighty
powers of witchcraft have made "_de black nigers, and de poor white
trash_" tremble, was indicted for practising in and upon one Peter Belt.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
Access and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press
Yale Law School ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu http://quotationdictionary.com
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