The painting Jim came about through Nikko Washington reflecting on the contemporary legacy of Jim Crow laws. Although in most cases the laws themselves are no longer in place, the economic and social effects they had on Black Americans continue to reverberate. Not only that, but the sentiment behind Jim Crow laws—the belief that Black Americans are not equal and should thus be subjected to a different set of legislative and societal expectations—continues to exist. This painting depicts the proverbial black crow from the Uncle Remus stories against the backdrop of a crowd at a sporting event. The crow is both hidden in the crowd, and the subject of the gaze of many of the white faces within the crowd. “I’m thinking about the personification of Jim Crow within professional sports,” says Washington. “Not the laws, but the feeling, the aura, sports ownership of black bodies, and the white dominant audience. That’s where the crow lies now; it's hidden in the crowd.”