Reply #58: It was a "mainstream racist" expression up through at least the 1940s

[bean fidhleir]

By that I mean that you could find it in mainstream, polite publications whose editors would have blanched (no pun intended) at "f*ck" and other vulgarisms common today.

Go find a copy of The Compleat Enchanter, written in 1940 - even the reprint from the '70s still has it in, even though they've changed the reference to a Black dancer from "the little dark" to "the little dark one". At the time of writing, "dark" was approximately the same as "colored" when used as a noun; see also, e.g., "Darktown Strutter's Ball".

Interestingly, the character in the book who refers to her that way is (a) White and (b) highly attracted to her. So racist language was used unself-consciously, but inter-racial attractions were taken for granted. The world changes.



Oh, what the phrase means is about what you'd think: "mighty white" meant "up to the best standards of White people".