Hi Doug,
As a surname related to complexion and hair colour it is pre-Conquest English (it's among the oldest surnames recorded, apparently). With relation to race it is first recorded as an adjective in 1604 and as a noun (i.e "whites" as opposed to "blacks") dates to 1671.
Interestingly "black" is used as an adjective in Old English to refer to those with a dark complexion but by ME it could also mean "pale" or "colourless." "Black" as a racial noun first appears in 1627 but "blackamoor" first appears in 1547.
It is interesting, isn't it, that the distinction between "Black" and "White" seems to occur at pretty much the same time...
Pete
God is our guide! from field, from wave, From plough, from anvil, and from loom; We come, our country's rights to save, And speak a tyrant faction's doom: We raise the watch-word liberty; We will, we will,we will be free!
