Buckra
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Buckra is a slang offensive term primarily used by African-Americans in the Southeast United States to describe a white man or a boss. It is generally thought to derive from a word in the Efik and Ibibio languages, "mbakara", meaning "master."
"De nigger was de right arm of de buckra class. De buckra was de horn of plenty for de nigger. Both suffer in consequence of freedom."...(Moses Lyles, a former slave in South Carolina, speaking in the 1930s).[1] As clearly noted in this 1916 publication, there was also the white trash level of buckra, referred by both Southern races as "poor buckras"...locally pronounced "po' buckras". [2]
See also
In other languages
- Bakra (Sranang Tongo, Surinamese) meaning "white men", "master" or "boss"
- Bakra (Jamaican patois) slave master, oppressor.
References
- ^ Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long, p. 214)
- ^ John George Clinkscales, "On the Old Plantation: Reminiscences of His Childhood", pages 11 & 33