Jim-Crow

or jim-crow

[jim-kroh]

adjective

favoring or supporting Jim Crow.

for black people only: a Jim-Crow school.

Jim Crow

or jim crow

noun

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

Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a black person.

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for jim-crow

Historical Examples of jim-crow

The white train crew from the baggage car uses the "Jim-Crow" to lounge in and perform their toilet.
Darkwater
W. E. B. Du Bois
This is the meaning of the Southern movement for segregating the races, of its jim-crow car laws and waiting-rooms.
The Ultimate Criminal
Archibald H. Grimke
His jim-crow freight outfit didn't cut much of a figure in their track schedules.
Held for Orders
Frank H. Spearman
Accustomed to the jim-crow coach, the Pullman with its comfortable bed, its luxurious dining-car, was a revelation.
The Shadow
Mary White Ovington
The black social outcast wished "jim-crow" railway accommodations and signs proclaiming inequality of race to disappear.
Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights
Kelly Miller

British Dictionary definitions for jim-crow

jim crow

noun (often capitals) US

the policy or practice of segregating Black people
(as modifier)jim-crow laws

a derogatory term for a Black person
(as modifier)a jim-crow saloon

an implement for bending iron bars or rails

a crowbar fitted with a claw

Derived Formsjim-crowism, noun

Word Origin for jim crow

C19: from Jim Crow, name of song used as the basis of an act by Thomas Rice (1808–60), American entertainer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jim-crow

Jim Crow

"black person," 1838, American English, originally the name of a black minstrel character in a popular song-and-dance act by T.D. Rice (1808-1860) that debuted 1828 and attained national popularity by 1832:

Wheel about, an' turn about, an' do jis so;
Eb'ry time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.

Where and how Rice got it, or wrote it, is a mystery. Even before that, crow (n.) had been a derogatory term for a black man. Association with segregation dates from 1842, in reference to a railroad car for blacks. Modern use as a type of racial discrimination is from 1943. In mid-19c., Jim Crow also could be a reference to someone's change of (political) principles (from the "jump" in the song).

jim-crow in Culture

Jim Crow

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