Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) referring, in a derog. manner, to a black person or the black lifestyle and culture.

1897		Lincoln Co. Leader (Toledo, OR) 4 Feb. 3/5: One of the lively ‘jig’ songs [...] heard [...] along the Sewanee river [...] Common negro songs [...] full of pathos and plaintive [...] even their most [...] foot-shaking and sould-stirring ‘jig’ songs.
1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 36: A jig band by the name of jim Europe [...] could be a big success in Paris.
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 112: There was a little knot of people, some of them dinges and yaller gals from the jig show.
1969		S. Greenlee Spook who Sat by the Door (1972) 120: I don’t have to worry about no jig lieutenants.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 49: It’s a big jig nightclub up in Harlem.
1986		S. King It (1987) 441: You don’t see it because some bigmouth jig bastard filled it up!
1996		(con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 56: They say she’s high yellow [...] Got a strain of jig blood in her.