[Vwoolf] Nigs, nicknames, & racial slurs
Christine Froula
cfroula at northwestern.edu
Sat Feb 9 16:22:53 EST 2019
For what it's worth: Henry Louis (Skip) Gates rediscovered, edited, and
published Our Nig during the years when we were colleagues in the
English department at Yale. I still cherish the copy he bestowed on me
with a radiant smile.
Christine
On 2/9/2019 1:48 PM, Linda Camarasana via Vwoolf wrote:
> Anne--
>
> Are you familiar with this book, /Our Nig/ by Harriet E. Wilson?
>
> https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/191882/our-nig-by-harriet-e-wilson/
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.penguinrandomhouse.com_books_191882_our-2Dnig-2Dby-2Dharriet-2De-2Dwilson_&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=1YH_nYXCv0s6vN0m7Yuu1Bc84yfHapwWjr2_2vC3O-c&e=>
>
> --Linda
> /
> /
> /Linda Camarasana/
> /Associate Professor and Department Chair, English/
> /Director, Women's Center/
> /SUNY College at Old Westbury/
> /Old Westbury, NY 11568/
> /camarasanal at oldwestbury.edu <mailto:camarasanal at oldwestbury.edu>/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 9, 2019 at 11:35 AM Anne Fernald via Vwoolf
> <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>> wrote:
>
> When Stuart first sent this email, the subject line made me gasp.
> It was too close to the racial slur. Which made me wonder: might
> Lord Cecil's nickname be connected to the racial slur? Given the
> frequency of references to "n*** brown" as a descriptor of
> clothing in the teens, twenties, and thirties, I think it might. I
> looked in the OED, and yes, "nig" is short for the racial slur:
>
>
> nig, n.3
>
> [...]
> /colloq./and/regional/(usually/derogatory/and/offensive/).
> Thesaurus »
> Categories »
>
>
> = nigger n.
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.oed.com.avoserv2.library.fordham.edu_view_Entry_126934-23eid34821604&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=yQHDTtI88dTqZ3xMbpLl8Gu204i1sUjSOhv2-QSFin8&e=>
> (in various senses).
>
> /c/1832 T. D. Rice /Jim Crow/ x De Nigs in ole Virginny Be so
> black dey shine.
> 1840 /Daily Picayune (New Orleans) /20 Sept. 2/2 Two little
> nigs..had a most scientific set-to at the corner.
> 1860 R. F. Burton /Lake Regions Central Afr./ I. 137 He
> resents..the name of ‘Nigger’, or ‘Nig’—Jupiter Tonans has heard
> of the offensive dissyllable..but has he heard of the more
> offensive monosyllable which was forced upon the abbreviating
> Anglo-Saxon by the fatal necessity of requiring to repeat the word
> so frequently?
> 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James /Indian Househ. Managem./ 43 Treat
> your servants as fellow-creatures, not as ‘nigs’—a term too often
> applied..to the Indian natives.
> 1916 J. B. Cooper /Coo-oo-ee/ xvi. 245 He never wipes the glass
> slobbered over by dozens of dirty nigs!
>
> As to why Lord Cecil might have that nickname, short of consulting
> the full bio, I can only conjecture. Was he darker complected than
> his family members? Was it because of his colonial work in Egypt?
> Or, like lots of nicknames, did it come from some more obscure bit
> of personal history.
>
> In any case, watching this conversation unfold simultaneously with
> some pretty sorry racial incidents of blackface here in the U.S.
> and it struck me that it would be disingenuous to pretend that
> Lord Cecil's nickname, Nigs, was unconnected to the history of
> racism.
>
> Anne
>
> On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 3:57 PM Peter D L Stansky via Vwoolf
> <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>> wrote:
>
> Thanks Stuart for the mention of the Rudikoff book as I was
> involved with its publication. It was published by SPOSS, the
> Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship and
> copies should still be available on Amazon at very low prices.
> SPOSS also published my /William Morris to Sergeant Pepper
> /which contains a section on Bloomsbury.
>
> Best to all, Peter
>
> Sent from Mail
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__go.microsoft.com_fwlink_-3FLinkId-3D550986&d=DwMF-g&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=qyC0djSWGOis3bIRcrZ5AQTDuN0kuzUn86jxKSbvXVU&s=DJrvzvPLqyfbMbrWGziL0rk5IoMKxV2bnOHKyBcHc2s&e=>
> for Windows 10
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Vwoolf
> <vwoolf-bounces+stansky=stanford.edu at lists.osu.edu
> <mailto:stanford.edu at lists.osu.edu>> on behalf of Stuart N.
> Clarke via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 6, 2019 1:03:27 AM
> *To:* Barbara Lounsberry
> *Cc:* vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Nigs
> Ref. to Lord Edward Cecil, L1 189. For anything to do with
> the aristocracy & VW, it’s worth starting with a rarely
> referenced, but excellent book, RUDIKOFF, Sonya, "Ancestral
> Houses: Virginia Woolf and the Aristocracy" (1999).
> Stuart
> *From:* Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 5, 2019 4:24 PM
> *To:* Barbara Lounsberry
> *Cc:* vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Nigs
> Making the grenadier connection is even more persuasive. I
> think we might be able to search VW’s connections to the
> Cecils to find how close (as it were) she ever got to Lord
> Edward. Kitty Maxse’s husband Leo was a brother of Lady
> Violet, Lord Edward’s wife.
> Stuart (whose mother was born in Lasswade)
> *From:* Barbara Lounsberry
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 5, 2019 4:14 PM
> *To:* Stuart N. Clarke
> *Cc:* vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Nigs
> Stuart:
> Thank you for your illuminating (and, to me, very persuasive)
> information on Lord Edward Cecil and Edward Pargiter of /The
> Years/.
> Your reference to Lord Cecil and the Grenadier Guards makes me
> wish to add that I believe Woolf associated Kitty Malone in
> /The Years /with Sir Walter Scott (Woolf's own diary
> "father"). Kitty's married name is Lasswade (name of Scott's
> home) and she much prefers the north over Oxford and London.
> Kitty is call "The Grenadier." In the British Army, a
> grenadier was a member of the first regiment of household
> infantry. Grenadiers were specially selected foot soldiers in
> elite units who threw grenades. Thus Woolf links Kitty to
> both Scott and to female household battle.
> Hope this adds. No doubt you can add more to this.
> Barbara Lounsberry
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 4:31 AM Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf
> <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> You will recall that that’s Eleanor’s nickname for Edward
> Pargiter in “The Years” (mentioned 4 times). Apparently,
> that was VWS and HN’s name for Nigel (see CUP edn 420
> 39:13). But why should that be a nickname for *Edward*?
> I’ve found a more persuasive inspiration for the
> nickname. The family called Lord Edward Cecil, Nigs,
> although I don’t know why. Perhaps if I looked up a
> biography, I would find out. Anyway, see here from the ODNB:
> *Cecil, Lord Edward Herbert Gascoyne-*(1867–1918), army
> officer and administrator, was born in London on 12 July
> 1867, the fourth son and sixth of eight children of Robert
> Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, third marquess of Salisbury
> (1830–1903)
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.oxforddnb.com_documentId_odnb-2D9780198614128-2De-2D32339&d=DwMF-g&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=qyC0djSWGOis3bIRcrZ5AQTDuN0kuzUn86jxKSbvXVU&s=_Dm347sgnWdyczaPMUmROSSnrAT212c-y14fJSB-GsM&e=>,
> prime minister, and his wife, Georgina Caroline
> (1827–1899), daughter of Sir Edward Hall Aldersonand his
> wife, Georgina Drewe. Known to his family as Nigs, and to
> friends as Ned, Edward Cecilwas educated privately and at
> Eton College, and was commissioned in the Grenadier
> Guardsin 1887.
> Stuart
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwMF-g&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=qyC0djSWGOis3bIRcrZ5AQTDuN0kuzUn86jxKSbvXVU&s=qw59rVg1BLl0yf-QCFOo4eqDHuZ5PJ-FBTCfFCHM4jM&e=>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=NICGUyYjR6ovaAuXxEu2XZJSTvlwhiDO25r0gIKo9GM&e=>
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwICAg&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=qyC0djSWGOis3bIRcrZ5AQTDuN0kuzUn86jxKSbvXVU&s=qw59rVg1BLl0yf-QCFOo4eqDHuZ5PJ-FBTCfFCHM4jM&e=
>
>
>
> --
> Anne E. Fernald
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.fordham.edu_info_24101_anne-5Ffernald&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=jTQBG1R_C-sK0u-U3vJ-NdyALbVg4-BYTraWCd1KEfo&e=> (she/her)
> Professor of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
> Special Advisor to the Provost for Faculty Development
> fernald at fordham.edu <mailto:fernald at fordham.edu>
>
> Rose Hill: Cunniffe 211
> 718-817-3034
>
> Lincoln Center: Martino Hall 422
> 212-636-7613
>
> Spring 2019 Office Hours: T/F 9:15-11:00 at Lincoln Center & by appt.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=NICGUyYjR6ovaAuXxEu2XZJSTvlwhiDO25r0gIKo9GM&e=>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=aoIgiHmOu_m5D7ypY4xZ5vVrnwy24VfT5OQ49gLY6Ug&s=NICGUyYjR6ovaAuXxEu2XZJSTvlwhiDO25r0gIKo9GM&e=
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20190209/65192b01/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Vwoolf
mailing list