Etymology The term "Jim Crow" is believed to have been derived from a song called "Jump Jim Crow", which was performed by a white minstrel, Thomas "Daddy" Rice, in 1838. Upon performing, Thomas Rice blackened his face with charcoal paste or burned cork. He danced a ridiculous jig while singing the song. He created the character "Jim Crow" when traveling in the South and seeing a crippled elderly black man or some say a young boy dancing and singing a song. However, even before Rice performed the song, "crow" had been a derogatory name for a black person. Etiquettes: Most southern white Americans, those who grew up before 1954, expected black Americans to conduct themselves accordingly. They expected them to act in the well-understood rituals of behavior. So, racial etiquettes that would govern the actions, manners, attitudes and words of …show more content…
• At all intersections, white motorists had the right-of-way. Rules of Conversing with Whites • Blacks should never declare or hint that a white person is lying. • Blacks should never ascribe dishonorable intentions to a white person. • Blacks should never suggest that a white person is of an inferior class. • Blacks should never claim to or excessively demonstrate superior knowledge or intelligence. • Blacks should never curse a white person. • Blacks should never mockingly laugh at a white person. • Blacks should never comment on the appearance of a white female. Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow etiquette and laws were operated in conjunction. In fact, most people, when they think of Jim Crow, they think of the laws or the black codes and not the etiquettes. The black codes excluded blacks from public transport and facilities as well as juries, jobs and neighborhoods. Passages from the 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments granted blacks and whites the same legal