[Ads-l] Antedating of "Peckerwood" (Derogatory Term for White Person)

[Geoffrey Nathan]

I first heard the word in the musical Ragtime.

Right era, even if fiction.

Geoff 

Geoffrey Nathan
Geoffnathan at wayne.edu

> On Jul 14, 2026, at 9:46 PM, Shapiro, Fred <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> 
> [EXTERNAL]
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> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Antedating of "Peckerwood" (Derogatory Term for White Person)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> peckerwood (OED, 2., 1928)
> 
> 1901 Plaindealer (Topeka) 8 Mar. 2 (GenealogyBank)
> 
> The peckerwood, resubmission candidate and cigarette fiend on the so-called=
> Law and Order Ticket, which ought to be called the Lying, Disorder and Hyp=
> ocrisy Ticket, seems to think that Chiles and Townsend ought to leave town =
> until he is elected. ... The colored people will not support men who denoun=
> ce their race at every opportunity.
> 
> Fred Shapiro
> 
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