The N-word at the time of Huck Finn

[Barbara Need]

Thanx, Joel. No, at this moment I don't have access to the OED on line
(alas).

I confess I'm not entirely convinced that the I.1.b citations for
1775, 1811 or even the 1818 uses represent contempt or abuse. In the
first one it follows "pious wretch"; I would like to see more context
for the second; and the third, well, "bad conduct and inferior nature"
show contempt, but that doesn't mean "nigger" does? Or am I missing
something?

But I do see 19th century uses that are neutral (though the OED says
those are only used by other blacks). I don't see Huck's use as
contemptuous, and neither do my black students (they both were trying
to contrast Huck's neutral use with regular, abusive use of the times).

What kind of dates are found for favorable uses?

Barbara

On 11 Mar 2009, at 9:04 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> Barbara, if you don't have quick access to the on-line OED the
> following might help---or not!  It seems terribly complex.  [I've
> omitted most of the 20th-century quotations.]
>
> Draft revision Mar. 2009.
>
> I.1.b. Used by whites or other non-blacks as a hostile term of abuse
> or contempt.
> 1775 in F. Moore Songs & Ballads Amer. Revol. (1856) 101 The rebel
> clowns, oh! what a sight! Too awkward was their figure. 'Twas yonder
> stood a pious wight, And here and there a nigger. 1811 BYRON in Mem.
> F. Hodgson (1878) I. 195 The rest of the world{em}niggers and what
> not. 1818 H. B. FEARON Sketches Amer. 46 The bad conduct and inferior
> nature of niggars (negroes). a1849 H. COLERIDGE Ess. & Marginalia
> (1851) I. 164 A similar error has turned Othello..into a rank
> woolly-pated, thick-lipped nigger. 1861 H. A. JACOBS Incidents in
> Life Slave Girl vii. 59 Do you suppose that I will have you tending
> my children with the children of that nigger? 1931 D. L. SAYERS Five
> Red Herrings i. 11 Waters.., like all Englishmen, was ready enough to
> admire and praise all foreigners except dagoes and niggers. 1936 M.
> MITCHELL Gone with Wind 401 'You're a fool nigger, and the worst
> day's work Pa ever did was to buy you,' said Scarlett slowly...
> There, she thought, I've said 'nigger' and Mother wouldn't like that
> at all.
>
> c. Used by blacks as a neutral or favourable term.  [Note quote from
> Mark Twain.]
> 1831 H. J. FINN Amer. Comic Ann. 88 'You be right dere,' observed
> Sambo, '..else what fur he go more 'mong niggers den de white trash?'
> 1838 R. M. BIRD Peter Pilgrim I. 238 Wanted to run, massa, but no
> more run than a barn-door; stuck fast in the mud{em}could'nt
> move{em}all over with niggah! 1848 G. LIPPARD Paul Ardenheim II. i.
> 225 For sixteen{em}seventeen year, dis nigga watch his time. 1884 'M.
> TWAIN' Adventures Huckleberry Finn viii. 72 Dey wuz a nigger name'
> Bob, dat had ketched a wood-flat. c1937 in N. R. Yetman Voices from
> Slavery 257 A nigger by name o' Enoch Golden married us.
>
> d. Used by blacks as a depreciatory term.
> 1834 F. LIEBER Letters 90 A negro boy under my window calls a lad of
> the same race, by way of reproach, 'nigger'. 1866 Atlantic Monthly
> July 79 When they call each other 'nigger', the familiar term of
> opprobrium is applied with all the malice of a sting. 1926 C. VAN
> VECHTEN Nigger Heaven 26 I'm..tired to death of all these Niggers
> downstairs. [Note] While this informal epithet is freely used by
> Negroes among themselves, not only as a term of opprobrium, but also
> actually as a term of endearment, its employment by a white person is
> always fiercely resented.
>
> 2. a. A person who does menial labour; any person considered to be of
> low social status. derogatory. Cf. (and earliest in) white nigger n.
> at WHITE adj. Special uses 1e.
> 1835 R. M. BIRD Hawks of Hawk-Hollow I. xi. 154 Wa' to been married
> soon, but faw the white nigga Gilbert, what cut the Colonel's throat!
> 1871 E. EGGLESTON Hoosier School-master iv. 52 'Ole Miss Meanses'
> white nigger', as some of them called her, in allusion to her
> slavish life.
>
> b. Any person whose behaviour is regarded as reprehensible.
> derogatory.
> 1840 W. G. SIMMS Border Beagles xxv, They're [sc. white officers of
> justice] afraid of me, the niggers, and you see I ain't afraid of
> them. [1861 Let. in H. Holzer Dear Mr. Lincoln 361 Abe
> Lincoln..goddam you..you are nothing but a goddam Black nigger.]
>
> These are just the noun uses; there are similar senses for the
> adjectival use, as well as favorable senses that I have not copied
> here.
>
> Joel
>
> At 3/11/2009 09:40 PM, Barbara Need wrote:
>> 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?

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