Jim Crow Definition

noun

The systematic practice of discriminating against and segregating black people, especially as practiced in the American South from the end of Reconstruction to the mid-1900s.

American Heritage

Traditional, institutionalized discrimination against or segregation of blacks, esp. in the S U.S.

Webster's New World

(military) A World War II code name for patrols along the British coastline to intercept enemy aircraft, originally intended to warn of invasion in 1940.

Wiktionary

(engineering) A double-action planing tool invented by Joseph Whitworth, in which the blade ‘jumps’ to face the other way on the back-stroke.

Wiktionary

(rail transport) A tool for bending railway rails, by holding the rail with two arms and pushing a screw into the other side.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
colour line
color line
colour-bar
color-bar

adjective

Upholding or practicing discrimination against and segregation of black people.

Jim Crow laws; a Jim Crow town.

American Heritage

Reserved or set aside for a racial or ethnic group that is to be discriminated against.

American Heritage

Discriminatory against African Americans.

Wiktionary

Segregated between African Americans and Caucasians.

A Jim Crow audience.

Wiktionary

pronoun

(historical) Southern United States racist and especially segregationist policies in the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s, taken collectively.

Wiktionary

Origin of Jim Crow

From obsolete Jim Crow derogatory name for a black person ultimately from the title of a 19th-century minstrel song

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From the minstrel show song "Jump Jim Crow", written in 1828 by Thomas D. Rice, the originator of blackface performance.

From Wiktionary