The birth of minstrelsy cannot be understood without the explanation of the famous Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice. Known as the father of American minstrelsy, Rice was responsible for introducing the first of the original characters seen throughout the lifespan of the minstrel show—Jumpin’ Jim Crow. The basis for the Jim Crow character was described in Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. Author Eric Lott claimed that Rice stumbled upon a "very black, clumsy negro" who was singing the African American rendition of Rice's Jump Jim Crow (1). Rice was so enthralled by the slave's song that he paid him to "sing the song over and over until he learned it (2).” Jumpin Jim Crow, "a bumptious Southern plantation hand who strutted the stage, unaware that his raggedy naïveté,” quickly became synonymous with the very foundation of what constituted a minstrel show(3).
"Weel about and turn about and do jis so,
Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow."
-Thomas "Daddy" Rice
Jim Crow may have been depicted as a simpleminded and unintelligent, but his character’s dialogue often called attention to “advocating abolition, nixing secession, and pushing black pride (4).” Jim Crow’s beliefs were a clear example of those that split the North and South. Furthermore, they (quite literally) played a huge role in the post-Civil War “Jim Crow Laws.” Historian Stephen Johnson described the controversy best in his book Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy:
“Conventional authority took advantage of enabling features in the presentation of Jim Crow to turn the phrase inside out…Able to turn Jim Crow from a vernacular sign embodying racial integration into its opposite, the very figure of segregation (5).”
1) Lott, Eric. Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. 61.
2) Knowles, Mark. Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &, 2002. 79.
3) Crawford, Richard. America's Musical Life: A History. New York: Norton, 2001. 201.
4) Lhamon, W. T. Jim Crow, American: Selected Songs and Plays. John Harvard Library ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. ix
5) Johnson, Stephen. Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. 28.
2) Knowles, Mark. Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &, 2002. 79.
3) Crawford, Richard. America's Musical Life: A History. New York: Norton, 2001. 201.
4) Lhamon, W. T. Jim Crow, American: Selected Songs and Plays. John Harvard Library ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. ix
5) Johnson, Stephen. Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. 28.