use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks

[George Thompson]

Frankie Laine recorded this?  Wow.

The version I know is by Louis Armstrong, ca. 1930.  I see that the song is credited to Ford Dabney, Cecil Mack and Lew Brown.  Mack and Brown I don't know, off hand, but Dabney was black, a band leader prominent in the Hrlem music scene of the 1910s.  No doubt he wrote the music.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, March 2, 2009 8:32 pm
Subject: Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> "Sunshine" as a slur is more commonly used in its short form, "shine."
> As a WAG, it may be the case that the popularity of "boot," from
> _bootblack_, who *shines* boots, and "shoe," from _shoeshine boy_ gave
> the the shortened form its impetus.
>
> As a child, I used to wonder why my parents disliked one of my
> favorite songs, Shine, by Frankie Laine:
>
> Hey now, just because my hair is curly
> Just because my teeth are pearly
> Just because I always wear a smile
> That is why they call me
> "SHINE"!
>
> Just because I'm glad I'm living
> And take my troubles all with a smile
> Just because my color's shady
> That's the difference, maybe
> That is why they call me
> "SHINE"!
>
> Etc.
>
> -Wilson
>
> I was, well, unaware of the subtext.
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: ?? ?? ?? American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: ?? ?? ?? Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: ?? ?? ??Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I've never heard it so used, but I *have* heard it once or twice as
> a
> > playful form of address (as by older waitresses to male diners in downscale
> > Southern eateries), i.e., "How are you today, sunshine?"
> >
> > The earliest ex. I know of is in James Forbes's play "The Show Shop"
> > (1914) in _The Famous Mrs. Fair and Other Plays_ (N.Y.: George H. Doran,
> > 1919), p. 99:
> >
> > "ROSENBAUM: Hello, Sadie. [To TOMPKINS] Hello, Sunshine. We've got
> to slam
> > this show through."
> >
> > Tompkins's first name is given as "Wilbur."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Jocelyn Limpert
> > <jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender: ?? ?? ?? American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: ?? ?? ?? Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject: ?? ?? ??use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
> >>
> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Does anyone have any information as to the origins of or current
> usage of
> >> "sunshine" being used in speech today in a derrogatory way as a
> racial slur
> >> against blacks/African-Americans?
> >>
> >> A friend asked me for information concerning this and I could find
> little
> >> in
> >> the online searches that I did. Usually I'm much more successful,
> so I
> >> would
> >> appreciate any help that you can give me.
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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