Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blackamoor

This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was KEEP. Postdlf 01:33, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Blackamoor

The offensive term "Blackamoor" can never be more than a dictionary definition. The other information here can go elsewhere.

• Strong keep. A very good article could easily be written on this subject, covering, for example the historic origins of the term during the crusades, and its wide use in heraldry, the theatre and impact on everything from the public imagination to the African slave trade.--Gene_poole 23:13, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • We already cover the heraldic figure in Maure. We already cover the people in Moors and the racial category in Moors (meaning). Uncle G 12:41, 2005 Apr 22 (UTC)
• Keep. Check out [1] for the kinds of possibilities. -- Mwanner 23:55, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)
  • See above. Uncle G 12:41, 2005 Apr 22 (UTC)
• Comments These are random factoids. No vote yet. Just poking around here. a) AHD4 does characterize the term as "offensive." b) The word has no entry in the Britannica 11th, and apparently (based on 1911encyclopedia.org's search feature) appears only once, in an article about the artist Il Moretto, who was known as "The Blackamoor. c) "Blackamoor" does seem to be the standard name in heraldry. d) An online search of Shakespeare's plays turns up only three instances; I thought it would be in Othello, but it is not. e) A general Google search on "blackamoor" suggests that it can't really be all that offensive; it's used in a wide variety of ways; perhaps it is sufficiently old that the statute of limitations on offensiveness as expired. Dpbsmith (talk) 00:00, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
• Comments There is a decent article on Moors. The word blackamoor is a synonym at best. If this article were about the *word* blackamoor that would be one thing, but using the word as a noun to refer to people is not on.
• An article on the historic origins of the term and its use in the various contexts is exactly the kind of information I would expect to find in a truly excellent unabridged dictionary - not an encyclopedia. Transwiki to Wiktionary which does not yet have this definition. (Whatever decision is made should also apply to the redirect blackamoor.) Rossami (talk) 05:36, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • An article on the historic origins of the term and its use in the various contexts is exactly the kind of information I would expect to find in a truly excellent unabridged dictionary ... like Wiktionary:blackamoor, you mean? ☺ Uncle G 12:07, 2005 Apr 22 (UTC)
    • Keep as rewritten. And thank you for also adding the Wiktionary article. Rossami (talk) 23:38, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
• We already cover the other things called Blackamoor in other articles. The only remaining thing called Blackamoor is a town. Keep simply because this is a mess (which I've attempted to tidy up a bit — see Moor, Moors, Moors (meaning), Maure, and Blackamoor), and having an article here stops it from becoming messier. Uncle G 12:41, 2005 Apr 22 (UTC)
• Keep Notable blackness. Klonimus 13:16, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
• Keep in present form as rewritten by Uncle G. I still don't know how to create a link that will be locked onto the specific revision that is currently the latest 07:28, 22 Apr 2005, but I am referring to the article that is about the town, references Moors and Maure, and links to the very good Wiktionary entry Dpbsmith (talk) 14:30, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
  • Comment: The English town is hardly more notable than the heraldic depiction of an African. Perhaps blackamoor should be a disambig page. Shimmin 17:04, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)
    • I felt a little guilty about removing the one sentence about Sardinia from here. So I went and expanded Maure from sources. It turns out that there's quite a bit to say about the heraldic figure. So whilst what you say might be true, it's not as damning as you may have thought. ☺ Uncle G 18:28, 2005 Apr 22 (UTC)
• The town should be at Blackamoor, Lancashire. Blackamoor should be a disambig page pointing to Blackamoor, Lancashire, Moors, Maure and Moors (meaning). Any text involving the history of the word "blackamoor" can be included in Moors (meaning). Dsmdgold 20:49, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)
• keep this because it is important Yuckfoo 00:43, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
• Keep. Real village in Lancashire with community of interest. Well done Uncle G. for your work on this article. Capitalistroadster 03:16, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.