Jim Crow

English Etymology From the minstrel show song Jump Jim Crow, written in 1828 by Thomas D. Rice, the originator of blackface performance. Pronunciation en /ˌdʒɪm ˈkɹoʊ/ GA Proper noun en obsolete derogatory offensive ethnic slur A black man. en US historical The collective policies and customs of an era of racial oppression, especially legalized racial persecution and segregationist practices, prevalent from the late 1800s through the 1960s until challenged by the U.S. civil rights movement. en 1950 February Leonard Lindsay, in John O'London's Weekly The Jim Crow Car Railway Magazine 126 Texas stands for segregation—for Jim Crow cars, for eating in separate restaurants, for sitting in separate rail coaches, for doing all the things which make white and black people in the United States realise how different they are. en 2024-02-26 w:Aaron Bushnell Courtney Kube, Marlene Lenthang, Corky Siemaszko w:NBC News U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C. has died https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-air-force-member-set-fire-israeli-embassy-dc-died-rcna140455 Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide? https://web.archive.org/web/20260809142010/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-air-force-member-set-fire-israeli-embassy-dc-died-rcna140455 9 August 2026 A fictional character from various minstrel show performances who is stereotypically depicted as an unintelligent, violent, and promiscuous black man. Derived terms en Jim Crower Jim Crowism Jim Crowist Jim Crow law See also en sundown town Noun ? en military historical A World War II code name for patrols along the British coastline to intercept enemy aircraft, originally intended to warn of an invasion in 1940. en 2008 Simon Muggleton https://web.archive.org/web/20090105204514/http://www.bbm.org.uk/as-silk.htm The Battle of Britain Monument in London … flying cannon equipped Spitfires V’s mainly on ‘Jim Crow’ operations (operational Patrols along the home coastline intercepting any hostile aircraft and looking out for any invasion forces). en engineering A double-action planing tool invented by Joseph Whitworth, in which the blade ‘jumps’ to face the other way on the back-stroke. 1852, Charles Tomlinson (scientist) Charles Tomlinson (editor), Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering, volume 1, section xiv “Machinery Exhibited”, page cxliii: Two other machines exhibited by Whitworth… One was furnished with a reversing tool to plane both ways, and called, from its peculiar motion, a Jim Crow machine. 1864, February 6, Once A Week (magazine) Once a Week, volume 10, article “Machine Tool-Makers”, page 188: He has considerably improved upon the planing machine, in his “Jim Crow” machine, so called because the cutter reverses itself and works both ways, and in fact adapts itself to any position to do its work. 1872, August 2, The Building News and Engineering Journal, article “Railway Works at Longhedge”, volume 23, page 77: The “Jim Crow” machine, which is Whitworth's patent, was new to some of the visitors. … But with a “Jim Crow” a cut is obtained both ways. en rail transport A tool for bending railway rails, by holding the rail with two arms and pushing a screw into the other side. en 1886 The Railway Engineer 7 207 When rails have to be bent with a Jim Crow, as in setting stock or check-rails, or straightening a bent rail, they should always be heated first, or they are liable to crack, especially steel rails. en 1899 W. A. Smith Railway Review 39 16 It is placed on the rail pretty much as a jim-crow is set, and as the middle roll is turned it travels along on the rail, curving the rail as it moves. en 2013 Terry Pratchett Raising Steam 345–346 Doubleday 978-0-857-52227-6 Quelling his nerves, Moist grabbed a jim crow and opened the trap door on to the roof of the guard's van, to the initial amazement of the grag who had been trying to force his way in. Adjective - Discriminatory against African Americans. Segregated between African Americans and Caucasians. en A Jim Crow audience Verb en transitive intransitive To work toward legislation that incorporates a discriminatory caste system or racial segregation. en 1950 Editors Interracial News Service 1 "Important Briefs" The American Bowling Congress’ 50-odd years of jimcrowing went by the boards during their convention in May which carried a motion to delete the "white males only" clause from their constitution. en 1951 Helen Caldwell Day 63 Color, Ebony (Sheed & Ward) You know that the first-class [northern] restaurants, hotels, theaters, etc., have always Jim-Crowed you, or carried unwritten signs, "Whites Only." en 1960 Editors Atlanta Math Teachers Refuse to be Jimcrowed Workers World 1 It is not only the students who are jimcrowed in the South. And it is not only the students who are protesting. Alternative forms en jimcrow en eponyms en Fictional characters History of the United States en Racism