Wikipedia says of Titford Pool...This feeder was not made navigable until 1837, with the addition of six locks, nicknamed The Crow, which were adjacent to chemical works owned by Jim Crow. In Post 6 of the thread “Lost Canals” Heartland informs that the name is subject to speculation. The site “What lies beneath Rattlechain Lagoon” gives a very good map of the location, and calls the basin the Crow Arm...
www.whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk
I can’t find any reference to Jim (James) Crow or his chemical works around the “Crow Arm” in any reports, directories, or accounts of the cutting of the Canal. The term seems only to be used by relatively modern accounts. However there is a “Jim Crow Bridge” at Birchfield Lane, Oldbury mentioned as early as 1848 and again 1870, and near Birchey Field Lane and Colliery. This is some distance away from the arm.
(Wiki)...In 1842 Arthur Albright, a trained
chemist, became a Partner in the
Birmingham chemical firm of
John and Edmund Sturge; his sister had married Edmund Sturge who was also a Quaker. The Sturges were already manufacturing potassium chlorate for the match industry, at their chemical works at
Selly Oak, adjacent to the
Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Albright therefore added the production of white phosphorus in 1844. In 1850 the production of potassium chlorate and white phosphorus was moved to Langley Green,
Oldbury, West Midlands; and production of white phosphorus restarted in 1851...
...The new site was located next door to the firm of
Chance and Hunt in order to obtain access to a supply of
sulfuric acid and
hydrochloric acid; and of
coal from the
Black Country coal fields. It was also adjacent to two different arms of the
Birmingham Canal Navigations,o (the BCN), one leading off the
Titford Canal, so it had good transport links.
In 1843 J and E Sturge were at Wheeley’s Lane, Birmingham, and Joseph D Sturge had a chemical works at Park Lane, Oldbury. This is close to the arm and Trinity Street. So if you want to find more about Jim Crow you would have to go back before 1848.