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Peckerwood and cross pattée (iron cross) on a T-shirt.

Peckerwood (or simply Wood) is a pejorative slang term coined in the 19th century by southern blacks to describe poor whites. Blacks saw blackbirds as a symbol of themselves, and the woodpecker as a representation of working class whites. They considered them loud and troublesome like the bird, often with red hair similar to the bird's red plumes. This word is still widely used by southern blacks to refer to southern whites.^[1]

In the 1940s, the abbreviated version "wood" entered California prison slang, originally meaning an Okie; but in about 1970 it became applied to white inmates as a whole, regardless of background. This has caused the symbol of the woodpecker to be used by white power skinheads. Many white supremacists self-identify themselves as peckerwoods, with women referred to as featherwoods. It is usually drawn with a long beak, sometimes drawn to resemble Woody Woodpecker. Sometimes the letters "PW" or "APW" (Peckerwood and American Peckerwood) is used. The peckerwood gangs are concentrated in California, where they trade in methamphetamine.^[1]

The exact etymological relationship between "peckerwood" and "woodpecker" is unclear. It is reported that in some Appalachian dialects, "peckerwood" is the normal word for "woodpecker" (possibly as part of a larger grammatical pattern); from this, it is speculated that speakers of other dialects may have applied this word to speakers of that dialect as a form of metonymic derision. (Cf. the speculated etymology of spic from "no spic English".)

Peckerwood is also a place name in the musical Mame.

The prisoners' cemetery at Leavenworth Prison in Kansas is known as Peckerwood Cemetery.^[2]

The prisoners' cemetery at Sycamore Street and Bearkat Boulevard in Huntsville, Texas is known as Peckerwood Hill. The largest of many prisoner cemeteries operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, its formal name is the Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery. The nickname came about because most of the prisoners buried there were poor whites. The 22-acre facility is still in use and has graves dating back to 1870. It is also the burial place of Kiowa Chief Satanta, imprisoned in 1871 by the United States after a raid on a wagon train.^[3]

• Cracker
• Redneck

1. ^ ^{a b} Hate On Display: Peckerwood hate group resource page maintained by the Anti-Defamation League. Accessed January 16, 2007.
2. ^ Leavenworth Federal Prison page created by the City of Leavenworth. Accessed January 16, 2007.
3. ^ Down on Peckerwood Hill: It's the last stop for some Texas prison inmates. By Steve McVicker, April 6, 1995 in the Houston Press. Accessed January 16, 2007.