Jim Crow

American  

Or jim crow

noun

1. a practice or policy of segregating or discriminating against Black people, as in public places, public vehicles, or employment.

2. Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.

---

adjective

1. favoring or supporting a segregationist or discriminatory policy of Jim Crow.

2. for Black people only.

   a Jim Crow school.

jim crow British  

/ ˈdʒɪm ˈkrəʊ /

noun

1. 1. the policy or practice of segregating Black people

   2. ( as modifier )

      jim-crow laws

2. 1. a derogatory term for a Black person

   2. ( as modifier )

      a jim-crow saloon

3. an implement for bending iron bars or rails

4. a crowbar fitted with a claw

---

Jim Crow Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for the segregation of institutions, businesses, hotels, restaurants, and the like. It also refers to the laws that required racial segregation.

---

Other Word Forms

• jim-crowism noun

Etymology

Origin of Jim Crow

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; so called from the name of a song sung by Thomas Rice (1808–60) in a minstrel show

Example Sentences

Moy was born in 1938, the second of nine children raised by a “gospel-loving mom” and “jazz-loving dad” who had fled Jim Crow Louisiana for a relatively comfortable middle-class life in Detroit.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

“The film speaks to the Black experience in America within these borders of 1930s Jim Crow South,” Coogler mused.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025

Both of Mr. Smith’s parents fled the Jim Crow South, met in Washington and imbued their son with ambition, purpose and tenacity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

Board of Education led to the Court deeming segregation in public education to be unconstitutional, dismantling the separate but equal doctrine and marking the end of the Jim Crow era.

From Salon • Sep. 10, 2025

After all, in many respects, they are simply doing what black people did during the Jim Crow era—they are turning to each other for support and solace in a society that despises them.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander