the peanut gallery

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Definition of the peanut gallery in English English dictionary

peanut gallery
The upper balcony in a racially-segregated venues such as a theatre to which black patrons were restricted.Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (1982; Simon and Schuster; ISBN 0671248952, 9780671248956), Peanut gallery was in use in the 1880s, as a synonym for nigger gallery (1840s) or nigger heaven (1870s), the upper balcony where blacks sat, as in segregated theaters

As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.

peanut gallery
Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature

Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.

peanut gallery
(figurative) people whose criticisms are regarded as irrelevant or insignificant (resembling uneducated people who throw peanuts on the stage to express displeasure with a performance); "he ignored complaints from the peanut gallery
the peanut gallery

    Hyphenation

    the pea·nut gal·le·ry

    Turkish pronunciation

    dhi pinıt gälıri

    Pronunciation

    /ᴛʜē ˈpēnət ˈgalərē/ /ðiː ˈpiːnət ˈɡælɜriː/
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