use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks

[Paul]

There's a 1932 song titled "Shine", I don't have a copy of the lyric,
both Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby cut copies of it.
As a child my parents would refer to something as being as "shiny as a
Nigger's heel"
Hadn't thought of that in 50 years!

Wilson Gray wrote:
> "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.
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>
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--
"I am not a number, I am a free man"
                #6
RIP.  Patrick McGoohan 1928 2009

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