"fellow" = "A black man"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/5/2011 08:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>At best, the connotations of "fellow" in the appropriate era may have been a
>little more heavily weighted toward black men than, say, those of "chap,"
>but I'd be hard put to defend *defining* "fellow" as a black man. OED offers
>only two citations. Neither of them compels the definition.

The OED entry is 1989.  I would expect more in the database today.

I have added a few citations here.  And I can provide countless
examples from EAN throughout the 18th century of "Negro fellow" --
although perhaps Jon would discount them because they are of the same
nature as the OED's first of its two citations, an advertisement for
a run-away.

The OED's second citation is from a dictionary.  Apparently J.R.
Bartlett believed it in 1860.

Perhaps it's time to name some of my sources for extensive
transcriptions of slave advertisements.

Desrochers, Robert E., Jr. "Slave-For-Sale Advertisements and Slavery
in Massachusetts, 1704--1781." William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 59,
no. 3 (July, 2002), 623--664.

Greene, Lorenzo J. [Johnston]. "The New England Negro as Seen in
Advertisements for Runaway Slaves." Journal of Negro History, vol.
29, no. 2 (Apr., 1944), 125--146.

Dow, George Francis. The Arts & Crafts in New England, 1704--1775:
Gleanings from Boston Newspapers ... . Topsfield, Mass.: The Wayside
Press, 1927.  Esp. 185--203.

Greene, Lorenzo Johnston. The Negro in Colonial New England,
1620--1776. New York: Columbia University Press, 1942. Reprint: with
a new preface by Benjamin Quarles. New York: Atheneum, 1969.  Esp.
33--43, 119--120.

Donnan, Elizabeth. Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave
Trade to America. Vol. 3: New England and the Middle Colonies
(Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington,
1932).  3:19--68, various "Notices of Sales."

Towner, Lawrence William. A Good Master Well Served: Masters and
Servants in Colonial Massachusetts, 1620--1750. New York: Garland
Publishing, Inc., 1998. Adapted from Lawrence Towner, "A Good Master
Well Served: A Social History of Servitude in Massachusetts,
1620--1750", Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1954.


Joel

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