Wheel about, an' turn about, an' do jis so;
Eb'ry time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.
Where and how Rice got it, or wrote it, is a mystery. Even before that, crow (n.) had been a derogatory term for a black man. Association with segregation dates from 1842, in reference to a railroad car for blacks. Modern use as a type of racial discrimination is from 1943. In mid-19c., Jim Crow also could be a reference to someone's change of (political) principles (from the "jump" in the song).来自美国1828年一部歌舞讽刺喜剧”Jump Jim Crow”,随着该喜剧的流行，其主角黑人Jim Crow就成为了黑人的代名词，后来在黑人斗争的历史中被反复提及，并引申词义种族歧视，种族隔离。同时需注意的是，Crow在此之前已经被用于俚语指黑人，来自crow,乌鸦。