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Jump Jim Crow
Category:
Slavery Dance Song
Source:
Thomas W
Talley, “Negro Folk Rhymes”
(Kennikat Press, Port Washington, N.Y.,
page 13;
originally published by The Macmillan Company, 1922).
Put your hands on your hip
And bow to your beau.
And every time you turn around,
you jump Jim Crow.
Now fall on your knees,
Jump up and bow low;
And every time you turn around,
you jump Jim Crow.
Put your hands upon your hips
Bow low to your beau
And every time you turn around,
you jump Jim Crow.
Comments:
In the United
States “Jim Crow” has come to mean laws and practices that segregate
and discriminate against African Americans and other people of color. However, this term was taken from the name of an African
American dance song that was made popular by a White performer who wore
blackface (black coloring on his face to imitate and make fun of African
Americans). “Jump Jim
Crow” is an instruction style dance song.
The words of “instruction” dance songs tell you how to do a new
dance or popularize a dance. A
lot of songs today are written in the dance instruction tradition.
“Jump Jim
Crow” also follows the African American tradition of dances named after
animals and birds. The
movements to these dances were made in imitation of the particular animal
or bird. “Jim”, of
course, is the commonly used nickname for males named “James”.
Off the top of my head, here are some other African American dances
named after birds and animals: “the buzzard lope”, “the turkey
trot”, “the monkey”, “the pony”, “walking the dog”, “the
bird” and “the snake”. Can
you add to this list?
The word “beau” in the excerpt above rhymes with “crow” and
means boyfriend or girlfriend”; few people use the word “beau”
anymore, but, in the year 2001, some African Americans use the word
“Bo” (pronounced “Boo” & rhymes with “you”) as a referent
for their boyfriend or girlfriend; Maybe “boo” comes from the word
“beau” pronounced the wrong way.
Preserve African American culture. Send the rhymes & chants that you know
to CocoJams!! |
