It also occurs to me that before the Jim Crow song was taken up as a minstrel song and before the phrase "Jim Crow" became a symbol for the USA segregationist laws and practices, it was just one of many imitative African American bird dances. Part of African American tradition was-and to a far lesser extent still is-to compose dance movements that imitate/d birds or animals. Instructional dance movement songs -or at least songs that referenced those dances-were and still are part of the African American tradition.

The phrase "cutting the pigeon's wing" in the 19th century (or earlier) African American dance song "Juba" (this and Juba that) is a somewhat familiar [to persons interested in folk music] example of a song that refers to a imitative bird movement.

The 1960s R&B song and dance "The Funky Chicken" is a recycled version of the same theme as is the "Chicken Noodle Soup" dance craze of a few years ago.