Rice, Thomas Dartmouth (1808-1860)

US minstrel performer. He toured widely in the USA and Britain with his musical shows, which he called ‘Ethiopian operas’, in 1836, 1838, and 1843. To promote himself he adopted the name ‘Jim Crow’ and some believe this is the origin of the name used to refer to African-Americans, specifically when referring to segregation laws.

He was born in New York. He was a little-known entertainer when sometime about 1828-31 he first performed in Louisville, Kentucky, in blackface (from burnt cork) and rags, a routine he called ‘Jump Jim Crow’. He was supposedly mimicking a crippled black slave (of a Mr Crow in Louisville) he had observed entertaining his fellow workers in a stable. The song instantly became popular. Although he was not the first white man to perform in blackface, the popularity of his singing-dancing-comic routines is said to have led to the minstrel shows of the 1840s. He played the leading role in the New York production of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1854, but died in poverty.