Green’s Dictionary of Slang

near adv.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

In phrases

nearer my God to thee (n.) [ironic use, the God in question being white and the subject’s aspirations disapproved of by more politically motivated black peers]

(US black) straight, silky hair, seen as a badge of whiteness.

1942

Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1009: Nearer my God to Thee: good hair.