PrimeWire

When he says “f*ck” Jim Crow passing the bridge well
The Jim Crow persona is a theater character by Thomas D. Rice and a racist depiction of African-Americans and their culture. The character was based on a folk trickster named Jim Crow that had long been popular among black slaves. Rice also adapted and popularized a traditional slave song called “Jump Jim Crow” (1828).[1]

The character is dressed in rags and wears a battered hat and torn shoes. Rice applied blackface makeup made of burnt cork to his face and hands[2] and impersonated a very nimble and irreverently witty African American field hand who sang, “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.”[2]

The Jim Crow laws and the high rate of lynchings in the South were major factors which led to the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century. Because opportunities were so limited in the South, African Americans moved in great numbers to cities in Northeastern, Midwestern, and Western states to seek better lives.