Peckerwood

Peckerwood gang network
Prison gangs:
Peckerwood street gangs:

Peckerwood is a term for a woodpecker which is used in the Southern United States and it is also used as a racial epithet for white people, especially poor rural whites.[2] Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been embraced by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs.[3][4][5][6] The term was in use as an inversion of woodpecker by the 1830s, with the sense referring to white people documented from the 1850s.[2] African-American folklore in the 1920s contrasted the white "peckerwood" bird with the African-American blackbird.[6][7] The word became a common term in Jive.

  1. ^ "White Supremacist Prison Gangs in the United States: A Preliminary Inventory" (PDF). Anti Defamation League. 2016. Connecticut: Branded Peckerwood Family (Size: Small); Minnesota: Inland Empire Peckerwoods ... Formed in 1995; Missouri: Peckerwood Midwest; Nebraska; New Mexico; Nevada; Oregon & Washington: International Peckerwood Syndicate
  2. ^ a b "peckerwood". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ Harper, Douglas. "peckerwood". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
  4. ^ Mezzrow, Mezz (1946). Really the Blues. New York: Kensington. p. 16. ISBN 9780806512051.
  5. ^ Killens, John Oliver (1967). Sippi. New York: Trident Press. LCCN 67016400. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Hate On Display: Peckerwood". ADL. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  7. ^ "peckerwood". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2016-05-17.