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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not quite the modern sense, I think. Cf.:

1839 _Liberator_ (Sept. 20) 3 [Newspapers.com]:  We believe there is
usually attached to rail-road trains what is called a 'Jim Crow' car, in
which colored persons...together with poor and despised white people - are
compelled to ride; but in all cases, they are not charged so much as other
passengers.

 It seems significant that  OED's earliest ex. of the noun meaning
"Southern system of racial segregation" is not until 1903.

JL



On Thu, Nov 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> 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
>


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