Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a derog. term for a black person.

1924		Daily News (Frederick, MD) 28 Feb. 11 ‘Boots and Her Buddies’ [comic strip] Boots, I can’t see why you turned down so many fellows just to go with Tom tonight! / He’s homely as a Fiji zigaboo! / [...] / Oh, Ann – but his black eyes! they go so adorably with my new chiffon frock.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 101: You ugly flat-footed zigaboo.
1929		C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 133: jigaboo, n. Negro.
1935		L. Hughes Mulatto in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act I: ’Bout a dozen coloured guys standing around, too, and not one of ’em would help me – the dumb jiggaboos!
1937		Z.N. Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (1998) 6: Dese zigaboos is so het up over yo’ business.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 27: jiggabo [...] a colored person, usually negro.
1944		Mencken ‘Designations for Colored Folk’ in AS XIX:3 174: The DAE does not list such vulgar synonyms for Negro as [...] jigabo (with the variants, jibagoo, jig, zigabo, zigaboo, zig).
1946		J.E. Dadswell Hey, Sucker 85: The name jig applies only to Negro men and boys. Negro women are called jigaboos.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 62: Being unmasked by jeering neighbours as a Negro – a nigger, a zigaboo.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 10: Jigaboo was as black as the inside of a cave.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 132: jigaloo [...] jiggaboo A negro. [Ibid.] 257: zigaboo A negro.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 110/2: Jigaboo. A Negro. [Ibid.] 244/1: Zigaboo. (Southern variant) A Negro.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 106: A ‘zigaboo’ is a Zulu or a Native.
1965		(con. 1940s) Malcolm X Autobiog. (1968) 194: A few were amused, seeing me as the ‘Harlem jigaboo’ archetype.
1966		J. Barr Occasional Man 134: ‘How can you work for a nig?’ ‘A what?’ ‘Jigabooreno, you know, Negro’.
1967		J. Fields ‘Not Your Singing, Dancing Spade’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 172: Dancing like some ham-hocking gig-a-boo.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 163: We’d like to bring her downtown, but without them jigaboos.
1986		S. King It (1987) 676: Open up, ya fuckin jigaboo!
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 56: Zigaboo A black person.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 246: I tell ya the jigaboo’s got the big looney with him.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 44: There actually was a jiggaboo in the year below him.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 139: How dumb could one old jigaboo be?
2015		twitter.com 23 Feb. 🌐 ‘Jigaboo’ spiking @MerriamWebster. Used by Fox anchor about @ladygaga's music.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1926

E. Walrond Tropic Death (1972) 20: On the way down he had stopped for a tot – zigaboo word for a tin cup – of water.

3. as used by a black person, non-derog.

1928		R. Fisher Walls Of Jericho 148: Aw, don’ be no fool. That jigaboo’s jes’ jivin’.
1937		Z.N. Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (1998) 148: Right now she got enough money in de bank tuh buy up dese ziggaboos and giv ’em away.
1952		L. Hughes Laughing to Keep from Crying 61: I’m a bad jigaboo, son.
1989		Kirk & Madsen After The Ball 259: The tableau of Q’s and R’s then, resembles the battle between black ‘Jigaboos’ and ‘Wanna-Be’s’ in Spike Lee’s controversial film School Daze.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 160: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Ziggaboo.

4. (US black campus) a crazy person.

1947

M.H. Boulware Jive and Sl. n.p.: Ziggerboo ... A nutty, crazy person.

5. (US) an unsophisticated peasant, a farmer.

1957

H.B. Allen ‘Pejorative Terms for Midwest Farmers’ in AS XXXIII:4 265: [...] jiggerboo.