Origins of the N-Word

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Recommended: the history of the word nigger

The words Negro, nigger, and nigga have always been a sensitive topic, yet it is a topic that needs to be addressed in light of the more common use of its vernacular. One word is used to describe a color, while the others are used to define a people. It’s very clear to many the negative connotation these words carry, but where did these words come from? Furthermore, is there a difference between the word nigger and nigga; and why is it that African-Americans now use the word nigga to degrade each other in today’s society? These words, in spite of their spelling, still holds the same degrading power as it did during the time of slavery, and they are still spoken out of cruelty and ignorance, but who is to blame? Can one still blame the Spaniards for considering people of a darker skin tone –Black? Can we blame the Europeans for perpetuating their hatred and ignorance of superiority over a race of people to the point they felt it lawful to define and dehumanize them? Or does the blame lie with the African-American race as we use this degrading labeling on our own kind, thus becoming the victimizer. Either way nigger or nigga are words that should be eliminated from the vocabulary of every human being.
According to Anthony T. Browder in from The Browder File: 22 Essays on the African-American Experience, “The Portuguese were the first to enslave Afrikans and they were the first to call them Negroes. When the Spanish became involved in the slave trade, they also used the word Negro to describe Afrikans. The word Negro is an adjective to describe the color Black in Portuguese and Spanish, but during the slave trade it became a noun used to describe a race of people” (qtd. in Trinicenter, par. 1). It is ironic that the word Negro ...

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...ieve that the word Negro, nigger, and nigga should have been banned from the vernacular of all humans when slavery ended. I also believe that because of ignorance, many African-Americans are imprisoned to a slavery mindset. The younger generations of African- Americans are behaving the way they have been projected. They don’t reach for anything more because all they see is the culture they created for themselves, which is far from who they are and what they can accomplish. Even though ignorance has played a part in the identity and the history of the African-American race, it can no longer be an excuse with the all the available resources we have in our reach today.

Works Cited

Bennett, Jr., Lerone. “What's In a Name?” Ebony Magazine Nov. 1967: 46+. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Nantambu, Dr. Kwame. “Origin of terms 'Negro' and Afrika.”Trinicenter 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2014

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