JIM CROW • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Jim crow

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/dʒɪm kroʊ/ Listen

noun

Jim Crow n.

A negro; said to be so called from a popular negro dance song, the refrain of which is "Wheel about and turn about and jump Jim Crow," produced in 1835 by Thomas D. Rice (1808-1860), a famous negro minstrel; considered disparaging and offensive. (Offensive slang, U. S.)

A legally sanctioned system of racial discrimination practised in the southern United States until declared unconstitutional in 1953 and further restricted by federal legislation, by means of which negroes were segregated and discriminated against in employment and in many places of public accommodation, such as parks, commercial establishments, and public transportation.

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Etymology of 'Jim crow'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Jim crow" Quotes from Famous Books

... Jim Crow, like all his race who worked for the government, never spoke his own language except when necessary. But he still retained his inclination to signs. Now he made a movement suggestive of three rises of land, and finished up ...

— The Watchers of the Plains - A Tale of the Western Prairies • Ridgewell Cullum

... jes to-day, yer know, he axed me, was I comin' h'yer ter dis yer meetin', an' when I 'llowed I was, he jes' got up an' rar'd. Yah, yah! how he did make de turf fly, all by hissef, kase I wur a whistlin' 'Ole Jim Crow' an' some other nice psalm-tunes, jes' ter keep myself from larfin' in his face! Till finally he sez, sez he, 'Berry Lawson, ef yer goes ter dat er Radikil meetin', yer needn't never come back ter my plantation no mo'. Yer can't stay h'yer no longer—' ...

— Bricks Without Straw • Albion W. Tourgee

... songs sprang up in due succession afterwards, but none of them, with the exception of one, entitled "All round my Hat," enjoyed any extraordinary share of favour, until an American actor introduced a vile song called "Jim Crow." The singer sang his verses in appropriate costume, with grotesque gesticulations, and a sudden whirl of his body at the close of each verse. It took the taste of the town immediately, and for months the ears of orderly people were stunned ...

— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Vol. I • Charles Mackay

... too faint his merits to paint, The Conclave determined to make him a Saint. And on newly made Saints and Popes, as you know, It's the custom at Rome new names to bestow, So they canonized him by the name of Jim Crow! ...

— Standard Selections • Various

... say in cataloguing the crimes committed in the United States that persons for the simple color of their skin are thrust into what are called Jim Crow cars on the public highways and charged as much as those who are riding in rolling palaces with every comfort that it is possible for man to enjoy. This is simple robbery on the public highways and the nine ...

— Twentieth Century Negro Literature - Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating - to the American Negro • Various

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