subs. phr. (negro).—A poor white: Southern states: also POOR WHITE FOLK.
1857. OLMSTED, A Journey through Texas, 339. In social relations, they [negroes] are sensitive to the overbearing propensities of a proprietary who are accustomed to regard all neighbors out of their own class as WHITE TRASH.
1856. H. B. STOWE, Dred, II. xl. Of all de pizen critturs dat I knows on, dese yer mean white women is the pizenest! They ain’t got no manners, and no bringing up. Ibid., II. xlv. He was one o’ yer drefful mean WHITE TRASH, dat lived down to de bush. Ibid., I. xx. The fact is, what with niggers and overseers and WHITE TRASH, my chances of salvation are dreadfully limited.
1866. J. W. PALMER, Aunt Judy, in The Atlantic Monthly, xviii. July, 84. ’Tain’t no use, honey; you don’t ’pear to take no int’res’ in yer own kith and kin, no more dan or’nary WHITE TRASH.
