[Ads-l] (great) white hope (1910)

[dave@wilton.net]

Thanks!
 
-----Original Message-----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2026 12:42pm
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] (great) white hope (1910)



I'm a great fan of Newspapers.com, but I share Dave's exasperation with their propensity for false hits. Here's a slightly earlier antedating of "white hope":

white hope (OED 1911)

1910 Kansas City Star 27 June 1/3 (Newspapers.com) Eleven Fast Rounds Indulged in by the White Hope. ... The last week of preparation for the Fourth of July struggle for supremacy between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson opened in Reno without any of the excitement which marked its immediate predecessors.

Fred Shapiro

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2026 11:10 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: (great) white hope (1910)


OED has 1911.

I had no luck searching Newspapers.com. It insisted on finding instances with any of the words instead of the phrase, quotation marks notwithstanding, resulting in tens of thousands of false hits.

“Jack Johnson’s Insurance Policy.” The Freeman (Indianapolis), 22 October 1910, 7/2. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.

"After being turned down by seven American life insurance companies in his quest for a $75,000 policy, Jack Johnson, the 'white hope blaster,' was notified by a London company that it would insure his life in any sum up to $100,000. The premium demanded by the London company is said to be one of the highest on record."


“Live Doings in the Field of Sports.” Los Angeles Daily Times, 30 December 1910, 6/1. ProQuest Newspapers.

Headline in reference to boxer Carl Morris

"WHITE 'HOPE' TALKS LOUDLY.
Morris Sure He Can Thrash Big Jack Johnson"


The earliest use of "great white hope" that I could find was the 30 April 1911 Oakland Tribune cite that's in the OED.


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