Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sapphire n.

[? she makes one blue adj.1 (1) (like the jewel); or f. the character Sapphire in the radio (later TV) show Amos ’n’ Andy (late 1920s–50s), a portrait, as stereotyped as the rest of the cast, of a complaining, emasculating, unpleasant black woman. Note the use of the name as the pseudonymous author of the 1996 novel Push, a story of poverty and abuse in the ghetto]

(US black) an unpopular woman.

Show quotations
[US]D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 78: sapphire n. a derogatory name used to denote an unpopular black female.
[US]K. Johnson ‘Vocab. of race’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 149: Sapphire. Refers to black women and can be used in a positive or negative way.
[US]I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 48: Given Personal Names: sapphire [fem. Perhaps from the character on the Amos and Andy show].
D.D. Harrison Black Pearls 50: [P]ickaninnies, big-mouthed ‘Sapphires,’ men with bulging eyes and oversized lips, and heavy dialect.