Language: en
Meaning: (historical)In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.[1]; (historical)Theupperbalconyto whichblackpatronswererestrictedin raciallysegregatedvenuessuch astheatres.[2]Synonyms:nigger gallery,nigger heaven(both of which are dated and offensive)2001, John E. Kleber,The Encyclopedia of Louisville,University Press of Kentucky,→ISBN,page630:As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowedAfrican Americansto 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 thepeanut galleriesbut 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 LouisvilleBoard of Aldermenpassed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.; (idiomatic)Any source ofheckling, unwelcomecommentaryorcriticism, especially from aknow-it-allor of aninexpertnature. May also now refer to general audience response: "Let's hear it from the peanut gallery."Enough already from thepeanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.2010July 26, “Leaked archive fuels doubts on Afghan war”, inReuters[1], archived fromthe originalon27 May 2017:"No democratic government can function effectively on a stage in which every private conversation and classified document is second-guessed by apeanut galleryof unqualified loudmouths," said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.
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