Nigger in the woodpile

For the 1904 film, see A Nigger in the Woodpile.

A Democratic Party parody, titled "'The Nigger' in the Woodpile", lampooned what they said were Republican efforts to play down the antislavery plank in their 1860 platform. Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who had worked as a laborer splitting wooden rails as a young man, is sitting on top of the pile. Illustration believed to have been drawn by Louis Maurer.

"Nigger in the woodpile" or "nigger in the fence" is a figure of speech originating in the United States meaning "some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed—something suspicious or wrong".[1]

Commonly used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its usage has since drastically declined, owing to its use of the ethnic slur nigger, and use of the phrase by public figures has often been criticized because of the usage of the slur in the term.

  1. ^ Bruce M. Conforth (16 May 2013). African American Folksong and American Cultural Politics: The Lawrence Gellert Story. Scarecrow Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-8108-8489-2.