[Ads-l] Antedating of "Jim Crow" (System of Racist Laws and Practices)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Jim Crow (OED, system of racist laws and practices, 1840)

1838 David Ruggles Letter 8 Aug. in Watchtower (31 Aug. 1838) 1 / 4 (Genealogy Bank)  The conductor of the car ... and three others forcibly ejected me from the car, and forced me into what they call the pauper [or Jim Crow] car.

NOTE:  "[or Jim Crow]" appears in the original publication   David Ruggles is new to me, but you will already know that he was a Black abolitionist-journalist-printer.  He was the first Black to own a bookstore.  He was also very active in the Underground Railroad.  One of the enslaved persons he assisted in journeying to freedom was Frederick Douglass.

Fred Shapiro



------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org