{"id":3168,"date":"2018-03-08T12:37:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T18:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3168"},"modified":"2018-03-08T12:37:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T18:37:17","slug":"jim-crow-song-character-and-symbol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/03\/08\/jim-crow-song-character-and-symbol\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Crow: Song, Character, and Symbol"},"content":{"rendered":"

The character of \u201cJim Crow\u201d has had a long and varied life. Most commonly known as the term for racism and segregation in the American south post-emancipation, the Jim crow was first popularized in the early nineteenth century through song and minstrelsy. Coming out of the song \u201cJump Jim Crow,\u201d the character was physically manifested in blackface minstrelsy by white male performers. The exact origins of Jim Crow within the song are fuzzy, yet that did not seem to matter to Thomas Rice, the \u201cfather of minstrelsy,\u201d who created a caricature out of Jim Crow.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Although there are variations on the tale, the story goes that Thomas Rice, a white actor originally from New York City, had the idea to create the blackface character of Jim Crow after hearing a black man singing \u201cJump Jim Crow.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a> In a grotesque impression, Rice integrated the song and character into his traveling show. This early version of Jim Crow had one primary purpose: to make a profit for Thomas Rice by capitalizing on the willingness of white Americans to laugh at racist stereotypes. Despite the role that Jim Crow, and the song \u201cJump Jim Crow\u201d played in perpetuating stereotypes by becoming the face and name of racism, the original intent was to make money by capitalizing on the social situation that already existed.<\/p>\n