[Ads-l] "bulldoze(r)" (June 1876)

Thu Feb 15 20:55:45 UTC 2018

> There is an early explanation of the etymology of the word

Very interesting, Peter!

On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 3:21 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> There is an early explanation of the etymology of the word:
>
>
> The Iola Register (Kansas), November 25, 1876, page 4.
>
>
> "Origin of a Term.
>
> Perhaps, just here, it will not be amiss to explain the origin of this new
> term of 'Bull-dozer.'  It originated in Mississippi.  The 'black-snake'
> whip that teamsters use upon their oxen or mules is called by a compound
> word, the first of which is 'Bull's.'  It is abbreviated to 'Bull,' and the
> whip called a 'bull.'  Whipping an obstinate animal or 'n[-word] with it
> was called giving the animal or 'n[-word] a dose of the bull, or bull's
> dose.  The Kuklux and White League used that instrument to beat
> Republicanism out of the negroes, and oblige them to vote the Democratic
> ticket, or keep away from the polls.  Hense the name for these bands of
> roving scoundrels, 'Bull-dozers,' or 'Bull-dosers.'  They pronounce it
> '"Bull-doozers' here.  This is the real and only origin of the term, and
> the name is very significant and appropriate, as many a negro with a
> scarred back can testify."
>
> [END]
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben
> Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2018 12:08 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "bulldoze(r)" (June 1876)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "bulldoze(r)" (June 1876)
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> John Kelly has a post on the Oxford Dictionaries blog about the racist
> roots of "bulldozer" -- it goes back to violent voter intimidation tactics
> in the 1876 elections.
>
> ----
> https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/02/14/word-racist-roots-
> bulldozer/
> To suppress their vote or coerce them away from casting their ballots for
> Republicans, Democratic supporters would intimidate black voters with
> threats or acts of violence. This practice especially plagued the 1876
> presidential election, and in Louisiana came to be called bull-dozing.
> ----
>
> Linking to:
> https://jubiloemancipationcentury.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/
> bulldozing-recon=
> struction-and-southern-voters/
>
> The post mentions that the earliest known examples of the word, from
> Louisiana sources, date from the summer of 1876, but I don't see the early
> cites given anywhere. HDAS and GDoS have cites from later in 1876, and the
> OED2 entry for "bulldoze" just cites an unnamed and undated "American
> newspaper" from that year. ("If a negro is invited to join it [a society
> called =E2=80=98The Stop=E2=80=99], and refuses, he is taken to the woods
> a=
> nd whipped. This
> whipping is called a =E2=80=98bull-doze=E2=80=99, or doze fit for a bull.")
>
> Here are the earliest examples I've found for the various forms.
>
> * bulldozle, bulldozer
>
> New Orleans Republican, June 20, 1876, p. 1, col. 1
> Monday or Tuesday night W.Y. Payne, a colored man, of East Baton Rouge, was
> taken from his home, at Holt's place, at night, from his bed, and was
> afterward found hung to a tree, two miles above that place, on the plank
> road near White's bayou. He had committed no offense; all had been quiet,
> but he was the secretary of the Third Ward Republican Club of that parish.
> He was therefore "bulldozled," which is of late the local name of the
> actions of the "Regulators." Besides this many other negroes have within a
> few days been taken from their homes and brutally whipped and beaten, a
> milder means of correction sometimes adopted by the bulldozers.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17471753/bulldozled/
>
> * bulldoze
>
> New Orleans Republican, June 24, 1876, p. 1, col. 4
> Lorenzo Jackson, of J.A. Campbell's plantation, was bulldozed, terribly
> whipped, the excuse being he had stolen a gun in 1872.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17471800/bulldozed/
> bulldozed - Newspapers.com<https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17471800/
> bulldozed/>
> www.newspapers.com
> Clipping found in New Orleans Republican in New Orleans, Louisiana on 24
> Jun 1876, Sat. bulldozed A man—and perhaps his name had better not be
> mentioned just yet—living close by Mount Pleasant, was concealed on an
> island at Fontania landing. He saw Levin Foster, Foster, a Baptist
> minister, Hen
>
>
>
> * bulldozing (ppl. adj.)
>
> New Orleans Republican, June 28, 1876, p. 1, col. 5
> So complete is the reign of terror created by the bulldozing Regulators of
> East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge, that a half of the inhuman brutalities
> practiced on innocent colored men will never be told.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17472010/bulldozing/
> bulldozing - Newspapers.com<https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17472010/
> bulldozing/>
> www.newspapers.com
> Clipping found in New Orleans Republican in New Orleans, Louisiana on 28
> Jun 1876, Wed. bulldozing Hanging a Colored Preacher ia a Church. So
> complete is the reign of terror created by the bulldczing Regulators of
> East Feliciana Feliciana and East Baton Rouge, that a half of the inhuman
> brutalities
>
>
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> [https://s0.wp.com/i/blank.jpg]<http://www.americandialect.org/>
>
> American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
> www.americandialect.org
> Devoted to the study of English around the world.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

-- 
-Wilson
-----
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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org