Around the late 1820s....this young guy....Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice (he was around age 19) started up with a tour group of entertainers....traveling through the US.
Rice would be what you'd call a traveling comedian today. Rice had this character that he developed....which would eventually be given the title name 'Jim Crow'.
I should note....that originally as a teenage apprentice, he was signed up as a wood carver, and this didn't really interest him much....so he fell back onto being a comedian.
He'd apply blackface, and go through a song-dance routine, and then perform some comedy routines....as a black slave lowly-intelligent guy.
Around 1832 (age 24), his routine hit the big-time. Wherever he went....the theater was sold out. It was a magnificent lifestyle and character that he'd developed.
For about a dozen years.....the 'Jim Crow' character was the basis of his act, and turned a fair amount of profit.
At some point in 1840....he started to have health issues (differing views, but it would appear like some type of drug/alcohol mix). His speech ability started to lessen and he had physical movement issues. Personally, I think he had a stroke of some type.
Like most guys from the era....he likely drank to an excessive amount, and that probably led to his health issues.
He died in 1860 at age 52. His last ten years.....probably spiraling down each single year.
So this Jim Crow character....starting up in 1832 and ending in the 1840s....is the starting point of this whole discussion? Yeah. Lots of people watched the act there in the east coast, along with renditions done in England as well. They remember the black-faced character and the act.
If you asked most politicians today...I'd guess 99.9-percent have no idea where it really started from.
I should state for the record....Rice grew up in Manhattan, NY.
