Final answer:
Jim Crow referred to both a racist character in minstrel shows and the system of legal segregation in the post-Reconstruction US. The correct answer is 'd) a and c only'. Jim Crow laws enforced racial discrimination and were not abolished until the civil rights movement.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term 'Jim Crow' originally referred to a racist character in minstrel shows and later became associated with the practice and legal system of racial segregation in the post-Reconstruction United States. The correct answer to the question is 'd) a and c only', as Jim Crow was both a standard character in the minstrel show and the legal system of post-Reconstruction segregation that upheld racial discrimination and inequality.
The name 'Jim Crow' originated from 'Jump Jim Crow', a performance by a white actor in blackface who caricatured African Americans during the antebellum period. This term was adopted to describe the laws and customs that enforced segregation and discrimination against African Americans. The 'Jim Crow laws', enacted primarily in the Southern United States, ensured that public facilities and social opportunities remained separate and very often unequal for Black and White people, typically to the detriment of Black individuals. This legal regime was part of a broader social system that reinforced white supremacy and persisted until significant civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s sought to dismantle it.