[Ads-l] Major Antedating of "Segregationist"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED's first use for the term "segregationist" is surprisingly late (1954).  Here is the earliest citation I have found:

1903 Arkansas Gazette 18 Aug. 4/1 (Newspapers.com)  When the segregation question was before the last session of the Arkansas general assembly ... the segregationists seemed close to victory.

The 1903 usage was probably written by a white person.  The earliest usage I have found that was written by an African American is the following:

1904 The Appeal 27 Aug. 2/1 (Newspapers.com)  The Atlanta News, edited by John Temple Graves, the race segregationist, refers rather unfeelingly to the horrible burning of two human beings in Georgia as the "Statesboro incident."

Fred Shapiro


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