text: summary of the strange career of jim crow?   the term jim crow comes from the minstrel show song "jump jim crow" written in 1828 and performed by thomas dartmouth "daddy" rice, a white english migrant to the u.s. and the first popularizer of blackface performance. the song and blackface itself were an immediate hit. a caricature of a shabbily dressed rural black, "jim crow" became a standard character in minstrel shows. he was often paired with "zip coon," a flamboyantly dressed urban black who associated more with white culture. by 1837, jim crow was being used to refer to racial segregation.