Today, we briefly talked about the Jim Crow Laws. I had heard the phrase before, and automatically knew that they had something to do with segregating blacks and whites in America. Yet I couldn't help but think...Who was Jim Crow?
After some research, I found that Jim Crow isn't really a person! The term "Jim Crow" refers to a black character in an old song. The song went like this: "Come listen all you galls and boys, I'm going to sing a little song, My name is Jim Crow. Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow." It was written by a man named Thomas Dartmouth Rice. Rice would act out his song along with some singing and dancing. He played the part of Jim Crow, a black slave or stable boy. Rice was a white man, and was one of the first performers to use blackface makeup. His routine became very popular as he traveled through multiple states in the U.S. With such great success, he even traveled to London and Dublin and put on a few shows! A false connotation of black people to be foolish and carefree suddenly arose throughout America and Europe. "Jim Crow" had then become an offensive name and eventually a racial slur.
The Jim Crow Laws were oppressive laws in the U.S. They stressed inferiority of black people, and segregated them from white people. This resulted in economic, educational and social disadvantages for the blacks. How do these laws relate to Fredrick Douglass?
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