[Ads-l] Antedating of "Nigger" as a Neutral or Favorable Term Used by Blacks

[Shapiro, Fred]

Good point, Dave.  If you come across any such usages, I'd be happy to forward them to the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, or point out how you can do that directly.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Sunday, December 8, 2024 9:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Nigger" as a Neutral or Favorable Term Used by Blacks


Note that all the OED's examples of 19th century Black usage of this sense of the word are actually by white people ventriloquizing Black speech. There are many, easily found examples by Black writers in archives of writings by freed enslaved people and in other sources.

There's really no excuse for this institutional racism.


-----Original Message-----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, December 8, 2024 8:40am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "Nigger" as a Neutral or Favorable Term Used by Blacks



nigger (OED, I.1.c., 1831)

1809 Republican (Savannah, Ga., 11 Mar. 3 (America's Historical Newspapers)

[Letter to the editor:] Massa say, he tell me bring fork — when me bring fork, me say, present arms." Me no tink massa cratch out him own head sitch story, to ruin poor nigger character. ... MASSA NIGGER.

NOTE: I suppose it is possible that this letter to the editor was a fictional story written by a white person.

***

1809 Star (Raleigh, N.C.) 7 Sept. 180 (America's Historical Newspapers)

The other evening, allured by the splendour of a fine moon, I looked from my covert to observe how matters sped about me, when I was attracted by the appearance of an old African Negro ... While these ideas occupied me, the old Negro fixed his eyes serenely on the moon, and with the native wildness of his country, sang these words.

O! poor Nigger he will go.
Hummunday.

***

Fred Shapiro



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