Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US black) a white person, usu. a working-class Southerner; also ext. to Chicanos and Latinos; also attrib.

1889		Fort Worth Gaz. (TX) 19 Aug. 1/3: The first shot was fired by the Peckerwood party.
1899		Mt Vernon Signal (KY) 10 Nov. 2/1: Wm. Ray beat the red-headed pecker-wood, Lewis Walker.
1907		Hopkinsville Kentuckian (KY) 23 May 7/3: [She] does not mind the ‘Peckerwood’ giving her the rush.
1911		Bisbee Dly Rev. (AZ) 26 Nov. 15/5: You bald-headed old peckerwood!
1917		Mt Vernon Signal (KY) 30 Mar. 4/1: The Peckerwood-Jaybird War in Fort Bend County Texas [...] the two factions were called the Jay Birds [i.e. blacks] and Peckerwoods [i.e. whites].
1924		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 591: Way down south in Arkansaw, / Peckerwood fucked his mother-in-law.
1938		J. Daniels Southern Discovers South 172–8: The gentlemen & the Negroes are afraid [...] of the rednecks, the peckerwoods. [...] Will Percy [...] found an old starving peckerwood in Greenville & he set him up in a little stand to sell papers [DA].
1944		C. Himes ‘My but the Rats are Terrible’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 323: Goddamned no count peckerwood!
1959		L. Hansberry Raisin in the Sun II ii: These here Chicago peckerwoods is some baaaad peckerwoods.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 63: Did you know that peckerwood of Pepper’s is the bankroll behind the biggest policy wheel in town?
1972		B. Hannah Geronimo Rex 155: I’ve almost forgotten what the old pecker looks like.
1979		(con. 1949) J. Hurling Boomers 82: Yew kin bet yer sweet ass they ain’t gonna git outta line, even if ever last one of yew is a damnyankee peckerwood! [Ibid.] 134: Old Ernie will never forget that one, will you, pecker?
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 249: pecker [...] White person (derogatory).
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 267: Now look what you’ve done, you peckerwood!
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 103: A peckerwood is a white boy who’s too dumb to know that he’s supposed to be scared of niggers, but usually hates ’em anyway just out of ignorance.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 140: How would those two dumb peckawoods fix a fight on their own?
2010		K. Scott Hall Off the Charts 141: I don’t like that phat pocket peckerwood Vanderwall any more than you do.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] If you were a ‘baby,’ a bitch [...] carnals or camaradas weren’t allowed to use your services. That was for peckerwoods or mayates, not for proud, macho Mexican men of la raza.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 195: ‘How did them peckerwoods find us?’.

2. (US prison) an associate/follower of the Aryan Brotherhood.

2004

D. Grann ‘The Brand’ in New Yorker 16 Feb. 161/3: Although the Brand continued to permit only a select few to become ‘made’ members, it had thousands of followers, known as ‘peckerwoods,’ who sought out the perks of being associated with it.