I once asked an elderly friend what the phrase “Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care” meant. He said that he had grown up with the interpretation that the song indeed was an abolitionist song, and referred rather literally to the fact that although Jimmy’s feet were injured in his long trek away from the master’s farm (i.e. he cracked open the corns on his feet), he didn’t care because he was so happy to be free. Even if the first mention of this was as a minstrel’s song, it could have had its’ roots in this sentiment. Don’t you think this interpretation fits in a bit better than that Jimmy got drunk or that the singer wasn’t bothered by idle gossip?
This explanation would have the singer referring to himself in the third person (“Jimmy crack corn”) and then, immediately afterwards, in the first person (“I don’t care”). That is, unless the song were intended to be performed by multiple characters, which fits equally well with its attribution to a group called the Virginia Minstrels, or with your tracing of its origin to abolitionist sentiments.
Couldn’t “Jimmy” have been the master? And when he finally fell off his horse he cracked corn (growing nearby) and I (the slave) don’t care… I guess this may be a stretch. - Jinx