I sing "The Flying Cloud" which has the line "we had the niggers up on deck and we hauled them in the tide". I've thought long and hard about whether I should replace "the niggers" with "their bodies" or whether they would prefer me to refer to them by the nword to hauling them in the tide.
Yes, it could be considered offensive, but slavery was offensive and to it sanitize it would make it appear more acceptable. At least in the end Edward Hollander repents of his wrongdoing - before he is hanged!