terms

Peckerwood is a US racial epithet used against white people, especially poor rural whites.^[2] Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been reclaimed 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 in the Southern United States by the 1830s; it is also 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.