Green’s Dictionary of Slang

referring or pertaining to the black community or black culture.

1900		Sporting Times 20 Jan. 2/1: [He] studied hard at his leaps, and his flip-flaps, and his spade-dance, and his comic scenes.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 56: She was of the complexion known among Negroes as spade or chocolate-to-the-bone.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 352: Just oldfashioned spade kicks, what other kicks are there?
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 89: Spade women, fat and ugly, leant out of windows.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 169: We knew that this great Spade group, the Superbs, were going to Las Vegas by bus.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 69: He’s that spade private eye.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘The Party’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1980) in Huncke Reader (1998) 169: A couple of spade cats cut by.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 207: A washed-up spade ball player.