“Jim Crow” is commonly talked about in history – it’s one of the few topics that actually is taught in schools – but what we don’t know is WHY it’s called Jim Crow. Who was he? And how does he still affect us today?
In the 1860s, Black people were fighting against white terrorism and trying to make real the new rights we gained during Reconstruction.
A white man named Thomas Rice overheard a Black person singing a mournful song about our struggle. Rice wrote it down, called the song “Jim Crow,” and wrote music to it. But then he took it much further.
A struggling actor, he decided to dress in Blackface and perform the song onstage in character as ‘‘Jim Crow.” It was a hit, and Rice toured internationally as the character – especially because he portrayed Jim Crow as lazy, bumbling, and stupid.
So how did a fictional character become associated with discrimination and white superiority?
When anti-Black laws were put into place, “Jim Crow” became a blanket term used to demean and demoralize the same Black culture they appropriated for their benefit through songs and onstage.
It is always dangerous when our Blackness is weaponized to benefit white people and demean us. We must always be mindful that white control of our Blackness is one thing that, like Jim Crow, just won’t fly!