Negroism

Most white children have negresses for nurses, and negro children for playmates. The first accents are caught from them, and the first efforts of speech are negroisms, the most corrupt of patoise.

When I pitched headforemost into the world I landed in the crib of negroism. From the earliest rocking of my cradle, I had known about the capers Brer Rabbit is apt to cut and what the Squinch Owl says from the house top.