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 ORIGIN OF "JIM CROW"

The phrase "Jim Crow" has become so inseparably affixed to the laws separating the races in public conveyances that two States, North Carolina and Maryland, have indexed the laws on that subject under "J" in some of their annual statutes. The earliest public use of the phrase appears to have been in 1835, when Thomas D. Rice, the first Negro minstrel, brought out in Washington a dramatic song and Negro dance called "Jim Crow." The late actor, Joseph Jefferson, when only four years old, appeared in this dance.[1] In 1841 "Jim Crow" was first used in Massachusetts to apply to a railroad car set apart for the use of Negroes.[2] The phrase, then, has a somewhat more dignified origin than is ordinarily attributed to it by those who have considered it as only an opprobrious comparison of the color of the Negro with that of the crow.

DEVELOPMENT OF LEGISLATION PRIOR TO 1875

The first "Jim Crow" laws are those of Florida and Mississippi in 1865, and Texas in 1866. The laws[3] of Florida provided: "That if any Negro, mulatto, or other person of color shall intrude himself into any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive accommodation of white people, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to stand in pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury, nor shall it be lawful for any white person to intrude