Antedating of "Jim Crow"

[Fred Shapiro]

Jim Crow (OED 1832)

1831 _Richmond Enquirer_ 3 June 3 (Early American Newspapers)  Mr. HENRY
BANKS of Virginia has "jump'd Jim Crow" -- gone over to the opposition.

[This citation predates the "Jim Crow" song and thus implies that the
sequence of senses of "Jim Crow" is different from the accepted one
followed by OED.]

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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