Dictionary

timber nigger en · NOUN

Etymology

From timber, presumably a reference to the stereotypical forest habitat of the Ojibwe people, and nigger. Arose in Wisconsin in the late 1980s during a public outcry and protest from outdoor enthusiasts over the Ojibwe exercising the right to spearfish in nonreservation lakes granted to them by treaties.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) A Native American person, especially one of Ojibwe descent.
   • Or like his neighbor Morriseau, who probably got a government subsidy because he was a timber nigger. 2004, Mary Relindes Ellis, The Turtle Warrior, Penguin Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 161:
   • Unfortunately, many people suffer from the Hollywood distortions of Indian history. While the Chippewa never waged hostility toward the United States, the feeling appears to be that they should conduct themselves as a vanquished people. Should the Chippewa fail to act vanquished and join in the mainstream of American society, they are regarded as un-American renegades deserving the epithet of "timber nigger." 1987, James H. Schlender, quotee, “Written Testimony of James H. Schlender, Executive Administrator, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, November 4, 1987”, in Anti-Indian Violence: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, May 4 and 18, 1988, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1989, →OCLC, page 253:

Forms

Synonyms

prairie nigger (ethnic slur for Native American person) · red nigger (ethnic slur for Native American person) · redskin (ethnic slur for Native American person) · tree nigger (ethnic slur for Native American person)

wikipedia: Ojibwe people