Obama's comments on Tuesday came in response to a man in the audience who said he felt the label of elitist was not far from the label of "uppity," a racially insulting term used against blacks.
Interesting...
The definitions make no reference to race. The entymology makes a reference to the word origin being racist but there were far earlier uses of other forms without racist connotations. No earlier “cited” use of “uppity” predates Uncle Remus, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t used prior to that book.
From dictionary.com:
up·pi·ty
-adjective Informal.
1. affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem; haughty; snobbish.
2. rebelliously self-assertive; not inclined to be tractable or deferential.
[Origin: 1875–80, Americanism; prob. up + -ity, extended form of -y1; cf. pernickety]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
—
up·pi·ty
adj. Informal
Taking liberties or assuming airs beyond one’s station; presumptuous: “was getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down” (New York Times).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
—
uppity
1880, from up; originally used by blacks of other blacks felt to be too self-assertive (first recorded use is in “Uncle Remus”). The parallel British variant uppish (1678) originally meant “lavish;” the sense of “conceited, arrogant” being first recorded 1734.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
—
uppity
adjective
presumptuously arrogant; “had a witty but overweening manner”; “no idea how overweening he would be”- S.V.Benet; “getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down”- NY Times [syn: overweening]
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.