[Ads-l] Replacement Antedating of "Good Hair"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Excellent point, Amy.  Let's forget about the 1849 citation.  Here's a better antedating of "good hair":

good hair (OED 1931)  1884 New York Globe 26 Apr. 1 (GenealogyBank)  Rev Dr Grimke preached a transporting sermon at the Fifteenth Street Church last Sunday ... He said that too much deference was paid to the external appearance and too little to character.  At Charleston, where he once lived, the prerequisite to admission into society was a light color and good hair.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2026 3:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Bad Hair" and "Good Haiir"

On 5/9/26 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Fri, 8 May 2026 10:16:40 +0000
> From:    "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Antedating of "Bad Hair" and "Good Haiir"
>
> bad hair (OED 1913)  1888 Washington (D.C.) Bee 17 Nov. 1 (GenealogyBank)  Colored people are generayl [sic] in the habit of valuing hair in proportion as it approzimates [sic] the hair of white people.  Their own hair is always bad hair, but if it resembles the hair of white people it is good hair. ... The sooner the Negro race learns to respect themselves, their color, their hair, their lips, their heels, their noses and their all, the better for their future.
>
> good hair (OED 1931)  1849 North Star (Rochester, New York) 19 Jan. 3 / 4 (GenealogyBank)  THIRTY DOLLAR REWARD will be paid for satisfactory information about my negro man HENRY FOSTER ... He is either drowned or has met with some accident, or been kidnapped ... He is of a Light Black or Griffe color, of a middle size, rather short and well made, with a bushy or full head of good hair.  1888 [see citation above for "bad hair]
>
> Fred Shapiro

Yeah, I dunno Fred. I don't think the ad is using "good hair" the same
way: Note the use of "bushy" preceding that "good hair". Yep, I've known
white folks with bushy hair.

---Amy West

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