It was not, in many areas, a blanket perjorative, but reserved for the lowlife. Words like "Cracker" and "White Trash" were the equivalent in caucasian circles.
Descriptive euphamisms from "Colored People" to "Negro" were used to describe more resepctable folks with dark skin, and "Black" came in later, at least where I grew up.
But, take a word out of historical contest, and you start creating problems...
There was a time when piling faggots up and burning them would be a great centerpiece for an outside party ("faggots" were then known as bundles of firewood).
Now, you'd probably get a SWAT team response to any such announced gathering. Not to mention the 'green' police and a host of alphabet organizations with acronyms, which when one attempted to pronounce them, would sound like someone drowning in a toilet bowl.
I think Samuel Clements would have been appalled at the progress the ninnies of the nanny state have made, and the thinness of American skin in this era of alleged "well adjusted-ness". Chances are he'd have preferred his books be banned, at least that way, people would rush to read them--as written.
As for me, I never saw a "right to not be offended" anywhere, and with so many people around so willing to be offended (unless they are in abject denial of another's attempt to be offensive), it is probably a good thing.
I have heard a Black woman calling a small boy the N-word in a store. I almost burst out laughing. I guess using that word to call their chilluns must be another “black thing”. {:0)