Jim Crow Chiles | The Dancing Missouri Bushwhacker

The Wild West Extravaganza

Wild West Josh

Education, History

4.8 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your family. An old adage that the 33rd President of the United States Harry S. Truman knew all too well. Every family has that one black sheep, right? In the case of the Trumans, that shameful distinction fell on James John Chiles, aka Jim Crow Chiles, Harry’s Uncle by marriage; a violent Missouri Bushwhacker who fought alongside Bloody Bill Anderson and Jesse James described by author David G. McCullough as universally hated and the stuff of children’s nightmares. And believe it or not, Chiles got the nickname Jim Crow due to his talent as a dancer. Minstrel dancing, to be precise. Apparently in the 1830s and 1840’s there was a popular white entertainer by the name of Thomas Dartmouth Rice who performed a song-and-dance routine in blackface while mimicking African Americans. The persona he put on during his act was known as Jim Crow. Rice went on tours all over the country, even in England, and it wasn’t long before “Jim Crow” was just a common phrase used to describe all white comedians who did these degrading black-face type performances. And of course, years later the term would be adopted as the identifier for laws reinstating white supremacy in the South. And evidently, Truman’s uncle was one hell of a Jim Crow dancer. Not exactly the type of association you’d want to have as a politician, right? Even in 1945 when Truman was elected. Oh, and don’t worry – it gets much worse. Uncle Chile’s comedy routine was the least of the future President’s worries. Who was Jim Crow Chiles? A true menace to society or just a poor misunderstood soul just dancing away his sorrows? How did he fall in with Bloody Bill Anderson and William Quantrill? And did he really serve with General Shelby’s Iron Brigade? Check out the website for more true tales from the Old West https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Buy me a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Join Patreon for ad-free and bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merchandise! https://www.teepublic.com/user/wild-west-extravaganza Book Recommendations! https://www.amazon.com/shop/wildwestextravaganza/list/YEHGNY7KFAU7?ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d Bloody Bill Anderson | The Wild West Extravaganza - https://www.wildwestextra.com/bloody-bill-anderson-the-missouri-bushwhackers/ Woe to Live On by Daniel Woodrell - https://archive.org/details/woetoliveon0000wood/page/n7/mode/1up Ride With The Devil clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Yc2RUw2WE Truman by David McCullough - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671456547?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzjoshta02-20&creativeASIN=0671456547&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.YEHGNY7KFAU7&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin Quantrill in Texas by Paul Peterson - https://www.amazon.com/dp/158182582X?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzjoshta02-20&creativeASIN=158182582X&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.YEHGNY7KFAU7&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin Missouri Outlaws by Paul Kirkman - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625859155?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzjoshta02-20&creativeASIN=1625859155&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.YEHGNY7KFAU7&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin Hat Creek Audio - https://hatcreekaudio.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:29.6	You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family. An old
0:34.6	adage that the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman knew all too well.
0:39.7	Every family has that one black sheep, right? Or maybe you're like me and you're the black sheep.
0:45.1	In the case of the Truman clan, that shameful distinction fell on James John Childs, aka Jim Crow
0:51.2	Childs, Harry's uncle by marriage. A violent Missouri bushwhacker described by
0:56.3	author David McCullough is universally hated and the stuff of children's nightmares. And believe it
1:01.8	or not, Child's got the nickname Jim Crow due to his talent as a dancer, menstrual dancing, to be
1:08.0	precise. That's M-I-N-S-T-R-E-L. Not to be confused with a menstrual dance your wife does once a month, as she frantically decides whether or not to hug you or just murder you in your sleep. Seems that back in the 1830s and 40s, there was a popular white entertainer by the name of Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who performed a song and dance routine in
1:28.2	blackface while mimicking African Americans. This persona he put on during the act was known as
1:33.7	Jim Crow. Dude went on to tour all over the country, even in Europe, and it weren't long before
1:38.8	Jim Crow was just a common phrase used to describe all white comedians who did these degrading
1:44.0	blackfacetype performances.
1:46.1	And of course, years later, the term would be adopted as the identifier for the laws reinstating
1:51.4	white supremacy in the South. And apparently Truman's uncle was one hell of a Jim Crow dancer.
1:57.2	Not exactly the type of association you'd want to have as a politician, right?
2:01.3	Even in 1945 when Truman was elected.
	...

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