Jim Crow (archetype)

For other uses, see Jim Crow (disambiguation).

Jim Crow is minstrel typecast and character created c. 1830 by a Caucasian minstrel show performer of the United States known as Thomas D. Rice, who wore blackface while singing and dancing madly, thus creating this character. The character was in story Rice's emulation of a debatedly young or old negro male that Rice had seen in his travels through the Southern United States; Rice included singing this refrain at the end of the chorus:

"Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow."[1]

It is believed that a man named Mr. Crow owned this slave, and this is why the name Jim Crow took hold. Rice incorporated this routine into his trade, and by the 1850s, the Jim Crow character had become a standard in his industry throughout the early parts of the United States.

The Jim Crow laws took to the name of this character in the 1890s.

The term "Jim Crow" is also used in a disparaging or derogatory way to refer to people, largely African Americans, that act in a similar way to the original Jim Crow of the song; singing, dancing, and jumping; often wildly, and otherwise being foolish. This term has connotations of being uneducated, unproductive, or unprofessional.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Doe, John. "Origin of the term 'Jim Crow'". University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
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