Barry Finn, thanks for your comment. Now that you mention it,
I recall reading [somewhere] about "Black Betty" being a term for the whip used by prison guards. I've also read that indirectness, coded, and multi-layed meanings for terms are characteristics of African American songs {and other songs from the African Diaspora?} So in the same song Black Betty could refer to a whip, and a woman, and [perhaps also] the prison van. Perhaps you or someone else here can comment on this.

Also, your comment about "Black Betty" as a referent for a truck rereferring to a truck reminded me of the term Black Maria [mah RYE ah] as a referent for a prison wagon.

The most commonly cited theory regarding this name as a referent for prison vans is that they are named after "Maria Lee, a large black woman who kept a boarding house in the 1820s with such severity that she became more feared than the police, who called on her to help them catch and restrain criminals. The story almost certainly became attached to her much later because she was well-known, black, and was named Maria, but there's no evidence that she was actually the source of the name for the police vans."

For those interested in the origin of terms, here's some links to that and other theories:

terms: Paddywagon & Black Maria

and

Origin of term: Black Maria


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Don, thank you for directly responding to my post. I appreciate it.