The "N-Word:" The Use and Development of the Term "Nigger" in African-American Culture, as Depicted in the Plays of August Wilson

August Wilson represents the experiences of African-Americans in each decade of the 20^th century in his Pittsburgh Cycle, a collection of ten plays.  Throughout this canon, language is used not just as an important form of communication amongst the characters, but also as a means of communicating the African-American experience and its changes across the decades of the 20^th century.  Because the language of August Wilson’s plays is representative of both African-American culture and American cultural shifts, the plays contain rhetorical and linguistic choices that are specific to the African-American community of each represented decade.  Wilson manipulates and alters his characters’ language throughout each decade and across the span of the century.  A particularly interesting facet of the language in Wilson’s canon is the language that characters use for either positive or negative effect, depending on the cultural context.  This ability of language to shape shift and fulfill a variety of functions is illustrated in the use and evolution of the term “nigger” and to a lesser extent its root word “Negro.”

Before “nigger” can be explored in the context of Wilson’s dramatic works, one must first understand the term’s historical and cultural context.  Bill Maxwell, a former professor of English at Kennedy-King College and contributor to the St. Petersburg Times, notes that “Indeed, ‘nigger’ is the worst of racial slurs, but it also has a complex history and multitudinous uses” (44).  The term’s different usages throughout different eras and contexts inform the term’s meaning and weight throughout Wilson’s canon of plays.

“Nigger” has held a place in the American lexicon as a “cursed yet bonding epithet,” as Kimberly W. Benston, an assistant professor of English and Afro-American Studies at Yale, describes the term (3).  Its origins are associated with its most unpleasant connotations.  In Randall L. Kennedy’s article “Who Can Say ‘Nigger’?...And Other Considerations,” the history of “nigger” is explored: Leading etymologists believe that nigger was derived from a  Northern English word—‘neger’—that was itself derived from ‘Negro,’ the Spanish word for black” (86).  Despite stemming from fairly neutral root words, they were manipulated specifically to provoke and hurt.  Kennedy summarizes the speculations of linguist Robin Lakoff, stating that, “nigger became a slur when users of the term became aware that it was a mispronunciation of Negro and decided to continue using the mispronunciation as a signal of contempt—much as individuals sometimes choose to insult others by deliberately mispronouncing their names” (86).  It is evident that the epithet “nigger” was not only crafted to be a malicious insult, but was used to such effect early in America’s history and merely continued to be used primarily as such since the term’s invention.

The word has evolved to encompass other meanings and uses, despite its offensive connotations and origins.  Many African-Americans have reclaimed the term, using it to express positive attributes, such as brotherhood and inclusion.  Jane H. Hill, professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Arizona, explains this idea, writing “usages that in some contexts are grossly racist seem to contain an important parodic potential that can be turned to the antiracist deconstruction of racist categorical essentializing (685). This alternative usage of “nigger” is especially evident in popular hip-hop and rap culture, now widespread in contemporary America.  Kennedy elaborates on these alternative uses of “nigger,” quoting four examples noted in Geneva Smitherman’s 1997 book, Talkin’ and Testifyin’: The Language of Black America.

It (Nigger) may simply identify black folks as in ‘All the nigguhs in Motor City got rides’ (a sentence she translates as ‘All persons of African descent that live in the city of Detroit have automobiles’).  It may express a disapproval of a person’s actions, as in ‘Stop acting like a nigger.’  It may designate a person who is ‘identifying and sharing the values and experienced of black people: ‘James Brown is a ‘shonuff nigger.’ Or, finally, according to Smitherman, it may be a term of personal affectionor endearment, as in ‘He my main nigguh,’ meaning, ‘He’s my best friend’ (Kennedy 89).

Although the word is primarily associated with its malicious origins and offensive nature, the context and speaker largely determine both the intended meaning of the term and it’s reception.  Additionally, the word’s spelling and pronunciation is altered as the usage and meaning changes both over time and between cultural contexts.  “The standard English pejorative label ‘niggers,’ be replacing ‘-ers’ with ‘the black vernacular — az  to affirm’ their identity and community ‘in the face of anyone or anything that poses a threat to blackness’” (Campbell qtd. in Young 699).  The pronunciation of the term lacking a hard “r” sound at the end tends to indicate less negative implications, particularly within the African-American community.

The first two plays of the canon, Gen of the Ocean and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone represent the decades of the 1900s and 1910s, respectively, and both utilize the term “nigger” in similar ways.  In Gem of the Ocean the term is used only occasionally, particularly by Caesar Wilks, the local constable and self described “boss man” who upholds the law at all costs and has no problem killing a person over a petty crime (Wilson 32).  He typically uses the term “nigger” when talking about African-Americans negatively, particularly in relation to the mismanagement of money or stealing.

One of the first uses of “nigger” in the play is by Caesar when he says, “Too many niggers breeds trouble” (Wilson 32).  His statement refers to the ensuing chaos at the mill after a black man drowned himself to prove he did not steal a bucket of nails.  Caesar’s statement obviously portrays a negative view of African-Americans, despite the fact that Caesar Wilks is an African-American himself.  Caesar continues to speak about his fellow citizens and fellow African-Americans in his fashion as he discusses the predicament at the mill.  Caesar says, “Some of these niggers was better off in slavery…You try and do something nice for niggers and it’ll backfire on you every tune” (Wilson 36).  Again, Caesar  continues to use “nigger” only when disparagingly discussing other African-Americans.

The other characters in Gem of the Ocean refrain from uttering “nigger,” examples of the term’s usage and connotations relative to the first decade of the 20^th century are provided solely by Caesar Wilks, thereby imparting a limited understanding of the term’s role in the American vernacular at the time.  However, Ceasar Wilks and Solly Two Kings, a former slave from Alabama and friend of Aunt Ester whose nickname references King David and King Soloman, use the term “Negro.”

The connotations surrounding the word “Negro” are less clear than the connotations associated with “nigger,” according to its usage in Gem of the Ocean.  Solly initially uses the word Negro, saying, “The people say they ain’t going back to work at the mill.  They lining up for the funeral down at the church.  They lining up all around the block.  Look like every Negro in Pittsburgh down there” (Wilson 13).  With this usage of the word, there are no negative connotations.  It seems that Solly simply employs the word as contemporary speakers may choose the terms “African-Americans” or “black people.”  “Negro’s” usage within the text appears neutral.  Moreover, Caesar seems to use “Negro” in a similar fashion, as the context of the sentence lacks the negative assertion that his use of “nigger” entails.  Caesar reports, “They tried to kill him for selling to a Negro” (Wilson 40).  He uses the word, again, to neutrally describe a person he is discussing.  Finally, “Negro” is used towards the end of the play when Caesar reads from a paper Aunt Ester has handed to him.  Caesar reads, “State of North Carolina, have this day sold and delivered…to Isaac Thatcher…a Negro slave girl named Ester, twelve years five months old…for the sum of $607: the right and title to said girl…” (Wilson 81).  In this example, Caesar is reading from a formerly legally recognized bill of sale for Aunt Ester.  In this case, “Negro” is used as a neutral descriptor to convey that Aunt Ester is a black woman, rather than attack or degrade Aunt Ester with the purposefully insulting word “nigger."

At the beginning of Wilson’s canon of plays, one can already see the linguistic differentiation between “Negro” and “nigger.”  Additionally, one can already see “nigger” used in a negative and insulting manner by African-Americans within the African-American community.