Origins
The origin of the name "Jim Crow" is obscure but may have evolved from the use of the pejorative "crow" to refer to African Americans in the 1730s. Jim may be derived from "Jimmy", an old cant term for a crow, which is based on a pun for the tool "crow" which today we call a "crowbar". Before 1900 crowbars were called "crows" and a short crowbar was and still is called a "jimmy", a typical burglar's tool.
The folk concept of a dancing crow predates the Jump Jim Crow minstrelsy and has its origins in the old farmer's practice of soaking corn in whiskey and leaving it out for the crows. The crows eat the corn and become so drunk they cannot fly, but wheel and jump helplessly near the ground where the farmer can kill them with a club.
Read more about this topic: Jump Jim Crow
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
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—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)