Jump Jim Crow - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jump Jim Crow is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

by white comedian Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) "Daddy" Rice

Thomas D. Rice

Thomas Dartmouth Rice was a white performer and playwright who used African American vernacular speech, song, and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time.-Background:...

. The first song sheet edition appeared in the early 1830s, published by E. Riley. The number was supposedly inspired by the song and dance of a crippled African slave called Jim Cuff or Jim Crow variously claimed to have resided in St. Louis, Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. The song became a great 19th century hit and Rice performed all over the country as Daddy Jim Crow.

Jump Jim Crow was a key initial step in a tradition of popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

that was based on the mockery of African-Americans. The first song sheet edition appeared in the early 1830s, published by E. Riley. A couple of decades would see the mockery genre explode in popularity with the rise of the minstrel show

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....

. It was also the initial step in the still extant tradition in popular music of incorporating African styles and subject matter.

The tune became very well known not only in the United States but internationally; in 1841 the US ambassador to Central America, John Lloyd Stephens

John Lloyd Stephens

John Lloyd Stephens was an American explorer, writer, and diplomat. Stephens was a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Maya civilization throughout Middle America and in the planning of the Panama railroad....

, wrote that upon his arrival in Mérida, Yucatán

Mérida, Yucatán

Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...

, the local brass band played "Jump Jim Crow" under the mistaken impression that it was the US national anthem.

As a result of Rice's fame, Jim Crow had become a pejorative adjective meaning African American by 1838 and from this the laws of racial segregation became known as Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...

.

The expression to jump Jim Crow came to mean "to act like a stereotyped stage caricature of a black person". See Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom is a derogatory term for a person who perceives themselves to be of low status, and is excessively subservient to perceived authority figures; particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people....

Original (Eye Dialect) Form

Come, listen, all you gals and boys, I'm just from Tuckyhoe;

I'm gwine to sing a little song, My name's Jim Crow.

Chorus: Wheel about, an' turn about, an' do jis so;

Eb'ry time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.

I went down to de river, I didn't mean to stay,

But there I see so many gals, I couldn't get away.

I'm rorer on de fiddle, an' down in ole Virginny,

Dey say I play de skientific, like massa Paganini

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

I cut so many munky shines, I dance de galloppade

Galop

In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse , a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and popular in Vienna, Berlin and London...

;

An' w'en I done, I res' my head, on shubble, hoe or spade.

I met Miss Dina Scrub one day, I gib her sich a buss;

An' den she turn an' slap my face, an' make a mighty fuss.

De udder gals dey 'gin to fight, I tel'd dem wait a bit;

I'd hab dem all, jis one by one, as I tourt fit.

I wip de lion ob de west, I eat de alligator;

I put more water in my mouf, den boil ten load ob 'tator.

De way dey bake de hoe cake, Virginny nebber tire;

Dey put de doe upon de foot, an' stick 'em in de fire.http://www.shifletfamily.org/HHI/GeorgeFoss/SONGS/song10.html

Standard English Form

Come, listen, all you girls and boys, I'm just from Tuckahoe;

I'm going to sing a little song, My name's Jim Crow.

Chorus: Wheel about, and turn about, and do just so;

Every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.

I went down to the river, I didn't mean to stay,

But there I saw so many girls, I couldn't get away.

I'm roaring on the fiddle, and down in old Virginia,

They say I play the scientific, like master Paganini,

I cut so many monkey shines, I dance the galoppade;

And when I'm done, I rest my head, on shovel, hoe or spade.

I met Miss Dina Scrub one day, I give her such a buss [kiss];

And then she turn and slap my face, and make a mighty fuss.

The other girls they begin to fight, I told them wait a bit;

I'd have them all, just one by one, as I thought fit.

I whip the lion of the west, I eat the alligator;

I put more water in my mouth, then boil ten loads of potatoes.

The way they bake the hoe cake, Virginia never tire;

They put the dough upon the foot, and stick them in the fire.

Variants

Rice routinely wrote additional verses for "Jump Jim Crow". Published versions from the period run as long as 66 verses, ranging from more boastful doggerel like the original version, to an endorsement of President Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

(known as "Old Hickory"); his Whig

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

opponent in the 1832 election

United States presidential election, 1832

The United States presidential election of 1832 saw incumbent President Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, easily win re-election against Henry Clay of Kentucky. Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes cast, defeating Clay, the candidate of the National Republican Party, and...

was Henry Clay

Henry Clay

Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...

Old hick'ry never mind de boys

But hold up your head;

For people never turn to clay

'Till arter dey be dead.

Other verses, also from 1832, demonstrate anti-slavery sentiments and cross-racial solidarity that were rarely found in later blackface

Blackface

minstrelsy:

Should dey get to fighting,

Perhaps de blacks will rise,

For deir wish for freedon,

Is shining in deir eyes.

And if de blacks should get free,

I guess dey'll see some bigger,

An I shall consider it,

A bold stroke for de nigger.

I'm for freedom,

An for Union altogether,

Although I'm a black man,

De white is call'd my broder.

Origins

The origin of the name "Jim Crow" is obscure but may have evolved from the use of the pejorative "crow" to refer to African Americans in the 1730s. Jim may be derived from "Jimmy", an old cant

Cant (language)

A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...

term for a crow, which is based on a pun for the tool "crow" which today we call a "crowbar". Before 1900 crowbars were called "crows" and a short crowbar was and still is called a "jimmy", a typical burglar's tool.

The folk concept of a dancing crow pre-dates the Jump Jim Crow ministrelsy and has its origins in the old farmer's practice of soaking corn in whiskey and leaving it out for the crows. The crows eat the corn and become so drunk they cannot fly, but wheel and jump helplessly near the ground where the farmer can kill them with a club.

External links

Library of Congress Learning Page with related primary sources.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Original (Eye Dialect) Form

Standard English Form

Variants

Origins

Further reading

External links