Pickaninny
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Pickaninny (also picaninny) is a pidgin word form which may be derived from the Portuguese pequenino ("little") via Lingua franca. According to one hypothesis, pidgin has the same etymology.
In the Southern United States, it was long used to refer to African American children. This use of the term is believed to have originated with the character of Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The term was still in some popular use in the US as late as the 1930s, but has largely fallen out of use and is now considered offensive.
It is in widespread use in Melanesian pidgin and creole languages such as Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, as the word for "child" (or just young, as in the phrase pikinini pik, meaning piglet). In certain dialects of Caribbean English, the words pickney and pickney-negger (pronounced "pick-knee" and "pick-knee nay-ga" respectively) are used to refer to children. In Nigerian and Cameroonian Pidgin English, the term used is "picken". In Chilapalapa, a pidgin language used in Southern Africa, the term used is "pikanin".
The term was also controversially used ("wide-eyed grinning picaninnies") by the British Conservative politician Enoch Powell in his "Rivers of Blood" speech on 20 April 1968. In 1987, Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona defended the use of the word, claiming "As I was a boy growing up, blacks themselves referred to their children as pickaninnies. That was never intended to be an ethnic slur to anybody."[1]
The most famous Picaninny in the past is “Topsy”. “Picaninnies had bulging eyes, unkempt hair, red lips and wide mouths into which they stuffed huge slices of watermelon.”[2] “Topsy” made her appearance in a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. With the portrayal of “Topsy” within her novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe wanted to make known to the world the evils of slavery and how it has affected the African American race. The Picaninny was distinguished by its young age, male or female. It also had a head of wild hair that was disheveled and dirty. “They were also half dressed and animalistic. The picaninny was seen as one of a multitude of black children – disregarded and disposable.”[3] The Picaninny was also characterized as half-naked to imply that black slave parents ignore the well-being of their children.
Picaninnies were also often illustrated in the company of animals. "Picaninnies were shown crawling on the ground, climbing trees, straddled over logs, or in other ways assuming animal-like postures."[citations needed] These illustrations were viewed on post cards and in newspapers.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Watkins, Ronald J. (1990). High Crimes and Misdemeanors : The Term and Trials of Former Governor Evan Mecham. William Morrow & Co., p. 72. ISBN 978-0-688-09051-7.
- ^ Jim Crow, The Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State Universiy “The Picaninny Caricature.” (http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/picaninny/)
- ^ Facts, Figures and History: The Evolution of Lynching by Meredith Malburne (http://www.georgetown.edu/users/mmm43/ffh.htm)
