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Jim Crow or jim crow

(jĭm krō)

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.

adj.

1. Upholding or practicing discrimination against and segregation of black people: Jim Crow laws; a Jim Crow town.

2. Reserved or set aside for a racial or ethnic group that is to be discriminated against: "I told them I wouldn't take a Jim Crow job" (Ralph Bunche).

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

Jim-Crowism (-krōĭz′əm) n.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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