[Ads-l] Better Antedating of "Peckerwood" (White Person)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent work.
This citation from 1900 is from an article about life in an Arkansas
prison. The article states that a "peckerwood" is a "white man"
according to prison slang.

Date: April 4, 1900
Newspaper: Fort Smith News Record
Newspaper Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Article: Life in the "Pen"
Quote Page 2, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-smith-news-record-peckerwood/201734554/

[Begin excerpt]
"What mode of punishment do the authorities use?" asked the reporter.

"They have but one - whipping. They just take a "peckerwood" or a
"bully," the former is what they call a white man and the latter a
negro, throw him down, make one man sit on his head and another on his
feet and then the guard takes a leather strap that weighs about four
pounds, and takes the skin off his back just like you poured scalding
water on it. It is horrible," concluded the young man with a shudder.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 10:14 PM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> peckerwood (OED, 2., 1928)
>
> 1908 Muskogee (Okla.) Cimeter 19 June 1/1 (Newspapers.com)
>
> The peckerwoods in Ark.were struck with wonder as they gazed on a private car composed of what they termed "them niggers" from Oklahoma.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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