[Ads-l] Major Antedating of "Racism"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Here are two other early "raceism" citations:

1889 Justice and Jurisprudence 395 (Google Books)  The myrmidons of raceism ... determined ... at the first opportunity, to back the wheels of the state, and press downward the fundamental political Christian principle thus embodied in the Constitution.

1902 The United Negro 128 (Google Books)  Slavery divided nearly all our national religious organizations into Northern and Southern branches, and this Society has suffered not only somewhat from sectionalism.  Raceism also impedes its work and at this time as never before.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2025 8:52 AM
To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
Subject: Major Antedating of "Racism" (CORRECTED, DISREGARD PREVIOUS EMAIL)

The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary had a 1936 citation as its first use of the term "racism."  I later contributed a 1926 cite to the OED, then Evan Kirshenbaum found a 1903 use of the term that I brought to OED's attention and that now sits as their first use.

Yesterday I got the idea of searching newspaper databases for the variant spelling "raceism," which proved to be productive.  I list below the new citations I found.  I have put the 1873 and 1888 citations in square brackets, meaning that they are not strictly illustrations of the common meaning of the word (they seem to use "raceism" to mean something like "partisanship in furthering the interests of one's own nationality").  The 1886 citation is then the earliest modern illustration of "racism."  It occurred in a letter to the editor in an African American newspaper by a Buffalo journalist named E. W. Crosby.  Searches in Newspapers.com make it clear that Crosby was himself African American.  Crosby refers to racial discrimination against an African American nominee for a government post.  The 1890 citation was authored by Richard Henry Pratt, an army officer who founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.  Unlike Crosby, Pratt was white and is considered now to have been in some respects a racist himself, at least with regard to Native Americans.  He was also the author of Kirshenbaum's 1903 "racism" citation.

[ 1873 Chicago Evening Mail 4 June 2/1 (Newspapers.com)  PATRIOTISM VERSUS RACEISM. ... The objectionable feature in the temperance call was its appeal to national prejudices, and this it seems exasperated the Germans to such an extent that they lost their reason ... we do not see upon what principle the German papers are justified in taking the lead in this animadversion ... Who started the movement of segregation on the basis of nationality in Chcago? ... Other nationalities have their race unities and prejudices ... If the Germans form, as Germans, a political organization, the Irish will do the same, and the native Americans will be very apt to follow the example.  The sentiment of race is as strong in one direction as in the other. ]

1886 New York Freeman 17 July 2/4 (Genealogy Bank)  (letter to the editor)  The long, bitter and determined opposition to the confirmation of James C. Matthews, nominated as Register of Deeds at Washington, is an instance of raceism that cannot be too emphatically condemned. ... E. W. CROSBY.  Buffalo, N.Y.

[ 1888 Boston Evening Transcript 10 Dec. 2/4 (Newspapers.com)  When raceism comes into contact with Americanism it must be stricken down without mercy.  In America there is room enough for all races that become unified with our race, but no room for those that do not. ]

1890 Evening Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.) 26 Nov. 1/6 (Newspapers.com)  In Capt. Pratt's annual report to the department he gives a brief sketch of the establishment of the school at Carlisle and from it we clip the following: ... The few months I had served at Hampton convinced me that there was no need, and that it was not for the best interests of the Indian, to unite his problem with that of the negro.  That, hurtful to both, principles of raceism and exclusiveism as against the whites are thus fostered.

1900 Burt County (Nebr.) News 22 June 1 / 4 (Newspapers.com)  I perceive of a truth that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him.  There is no provincialism raceism, colorlineism or sectism in Christianity, it seeks to save mankind with reference to the barriers which ignorance and prejudice have raised between man and man. ... J.J.H. in Christian Evangelist.

Fred Shapiro




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