Jim Crow

Meanings

1. A Black man.
2. The collective policies and customs of an era of racial oppression in the U.S., especially legalized racial persecution and segregationist practices, prevalent from the late 1800s through the 1960s until challenged by the U.S. civil rights movement.
3. A fictional character from various minstrel show performances who is stereotypically depicted as an unintelligent, violent, and promiscuous Black man.

1. A World War II code name for patrols along the British coastline to intercept enemy aircraft, originally intended to warn of invasion in 1940.
2. A double-action planing tool invented by Joseph Whitworth, in which the blade ‘jumps’ to face the other way on the back-stroke.
3. A tool for bending railway rails, by holding the rail with two arms and pushing a screw into the other side.

1. Discriminatory against African Americans.
2. Segregated between African Americans and Caucasians.

1. To work toward legislation that incorporates a discriminatory caste system or racial segregation. Also jimcrowing, jimcrowed.

Etymology

From the minstrel show song Jump Jim Crow, written in 1828 by Thomas D. Rice, the originator of blackface performance.