Thomas D. Rice

Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 – September 19, 1860), known professionally as Daddy Rice, was a white American performer and playwright who performed blackface and used African-American vernacular speech, song, and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time. He is considered the "father of American minstrelsy". His act drew on aspects of African American culture and popularized them with a national, and later international, audience.

Rice's "Jim Crow" persona was an ethnic depiction in accordance with contemporary ideas of African-Americans and their culture. The character was based on a folk trickster named Jim Crow that was long popular among black slaves. Rice also adapted and popularized a traditional slave song called "Jump Jim Crow".

Thomas Dartmouth Rice was born in the lower east side of Manhattan, New York. His family resided in the commercial district near the East River docks. Rice received some formal education in his youth, but ceased in his teenage years when he acquired an apprenticeship with a woodcarver named Dodge. Despite this occupational training, Rice quickly made a career as a performer.

By 1827, Rice was a traveling actor, appearing not only as a stock player in several New York theaters, but also performing on frontier stages in the coastal South and the Ohio River valley. According to a former stage colleague, Rice was "tall and wiry, and a great deal on the build of Bob Fitzsimmons, the prizefighter". According to another account he was at least six foot tall. He frequently told stories of George Washington, whom he claimed had been a friend of his father.

The actual origin of the Jim Crow character has been lost to legend. One story claims it is Rice's emulation of a negro slave that he had seen in his travels through the Southern United States, whose owner was a Mr Crow. Several sources describe Rice encountering an elderly black stableman working in one of the river towns where Rice was performing. According to some accounts the man had a crooked leg and deformed shoulder. He was singing about Jim Crow, and punctuating each stanza with a little jump.

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