The Jim Crow Laws
No, these laws have nothing to do with a crow. Or anyone named Jim Crow. It all started with a comedian named Thomas "Daddy" Rice. During the nineteenth century, this man used a burned cork and covered his body all in black soot, and pretended he was colored in front of his adoring crowd. He tore his clothing and began to sing a song called "Jump Jim Crow" in a loud and strange voice, and then later made jokes about African Americans. It was basically a statement saying, African Americans are stupid, and we are better than them. This term, "Jim Crow" became a very popular insult, and soon, when laws came to be made that colored people had to have different theaters, bus seats, and bathrooms than white people, the set of new laws came to be named Jim Crow Laws.