To shuck and
jive" originally referred to the intentionally misleading
words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in
power, both during the period of
slavery and afterwards. The expression was documented as being in wide usage in the 1920s, but
may have originated much earlier.
"Shucking and jiving" was a tactic of both survival and resistance. A slave, for instance, could say eagerly, "Oh, yes, Master," and have no real intention to obey. Or an African-American man could pretend to be working hard at a task he was ordered to do, but might put up this pretense only when under observation. Both would be instances of "doin' the old shuck 'n
jive."
It has been adopted into non-Afroamerican speech, with a reference to behavior adopted in order to avoid criticism.