Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a derog. term for an African-American; also attrib.

[1856		N.Y. Dly Times 5 Sept. 2/4: The Senegambian heat which reigns at Paris came near to making a failure of the great national fête].
1866		N.O. Crescent (LA) 18 Sept. 4/1: The Senegambian pupils are now performing, and [...] we shall look for their appearance with a high degree of curiosity.
1875		Chicago Times 27 Nov. [headline] jerked to jesus Four Senegambian Butchers Were Wafted to Heaven on Yesterday from Scaffolds.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 25 Sept. 10/4: She has lived with the blackest and most reeking of Senegambians.
1896		Wkly Messenger (St Martinville, LA) 23 May 1/2: Neither law nor justic required [...] that the accomodation should be equal — as good for a Senegambian as for a white man.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 21 July 11/3: The Senegambian dispenser of uppercuts is languishing in a prison cell.
1903		Watertown Republican (WI) 27 May 3/5: Senah was short for Senegambian, a name the boys gave our cook.
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of The Toilsome Ascent’ Ade’s Fables 188: They were pleasantly received by [...] a Senegambian with a Red Cap, who hunted up the Taxi.
1919		Independent (Elizabeth City, NC) 28 Mar. 7/2: Raleigh has experienced a recrudescence of Senegambian politics.
1926		F.W. Pollock ‘Current Expansion of Sl.’ AS II:3 146: A certain game of dice, formerly ‘crap,’ now enjoys distinction under such names as ‘Mississippi marbles,’ ‘African golf,’ and ‘Senegambian cricket’.
1983		I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 48: Allusions to African Origins: senegambian [1888].