Racism, Jim Crow Persona

Racism, Jim Crow Persona

Thomas D. Rice wearing the costume of his character Jim Crow with right arm raised and a little skip in his dance step. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. All were enacted by white Democratic-dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. Jim Crow laws were upheld in 1896, by the Supreme Court's separate but equal legal doctrine for facilities for African Americans, established with the court's decision in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. The laws were enforced until the 1960s when the struggle for civil rights in the United States gained national attention. The Jim Crow persona was a theater character by Thomas D. Rice and an ethnic depiction in accordance with contemporary white ideas of African-Americans and their culture. The character was based on a folk trickster named Jim Crow that was long popular among black slaves. The character dressed in rags, battered hat and torn shoes. Rice blackened his face and hands and impersonated a nimble and witty African-American field hand. The Jim Crow persona personified the negative and stereotypical view of black people. Lithograph by George Edward Madeley, 1833-45.

Album / Science Source / Library of Congress

Model: No - Property: No
Rights questions?

3185 x 4350 px | 39.6 MB

27.0 x 36.8 cm | 10.6 x 14.5 in (300 dpi)