skillet, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

skillet n.

[SE skillet, a cast-iron (black) frying pan]

1. an old car.

1938

D. Runyon ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 412: What are you guys carrying in this old skillet, anyway.

2. (US black) a black person; also adj.

1942		Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1006: You skillets is trying to promote a meal on me.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 63: black man [...] skillet queen (kwn SF, black gay sl: black man freshly arrived from Dixie).
1983		(con. 1930s) I.L. Allen Lang. of Ethnic Conflict 47: Color Allusions, Other than ‘Black’ and ‘Negro’: […] skillet [1930s].

skillet blond(e) (n.) (US black)

1. a very dark-skinned black person.

1935

Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 93: He hired a colored man to clear off some new ground, but dat skillet blond was too lazy to work.

2. a black woman wearing a blonde wig.

1977		J.L. Dillard Lex. Black Eng.
1994		(con. 1920s–30s) C. Major Juba to Jive.
2000		M. Roberts et al. Body Politics 34: She’s like a skillet blonde, so it’s Blacks who have dyed their hair blonde.
2006		H.Mullen Recyclopedia 105: kettle deadpanned not missing a beat least mine ain’t no skillet blonde .