Jim Crow cars
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Railway coaches set apart lor the sole use of Negroes.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Jim Crow cars” mean?
Railway coaches set apart lor the sole use of Negroes.
Is “Jim Crow cars” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.