Etymology

exoduster

ex·o·dus·ter
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Today it means: An African-American who migrated from a state along the Mississippi River in the Southern United States to Kansas, mostly between 1879 and 1881 during the Reconstruction era. Full definition →

First used 1879
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The story

From Exodus (“departure of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt recorded in the Bible”), exodus (“sudden departure of a large number of people”) + -ster (suffix denoting someone who is, is associated with, or does a specified thing) (see the 1899 quotation), alluding to the story of the exodus of Israelites from Egypt which is related in the Book of Exodus in the Bible.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1879 An African-American who migrated from a state along the Mississippi River in the Southern United States to Kansas, mostly between 1879 and 1881 during the Reconstruction era.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.