The Black Codes were a series of different laws and restrictions that were passed on African-American citizens in America after the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were passed. Many of these codes were set in documents such as the Civil Rights of Mississippi Freedmen. Some of the restrictions within this document included a penalty of life in prison for interracial marriage, workers not being allowed to leave before their “term” to their employer expires, and citizens being compelled by law to return any worker to their employer if the term has not been served. Another law exemplifying the Black Codes was the Mississippi Vagrant Law, which stated that all African-American people seen travelling without apparent “reason” or assembling together would be considered vagrants and fined and punished by the law (see link to picture below). One last example of the Black Codes was in the Penal Laws of Mississippi. According to the Penal Laws of Mississippi, no freedman was allowed to carry arms, any freedman “disturbing the peace” would be punishable by law, any white person lending ammunition or weaponry to a freedman would be punished by the law, and if a freedman could not pay their fine, they would work to pay off their debt. All of these different laws and restrictions were just part of the discrimination and poor treatment that the African-Americans in America suffered with the Black Codes. The Black Codes were significant for a number of reasons. For one, they made it evident that the freed black people in America were still not truly equal to others, no matter what the amendments or other laws tried to accomplish. The fact that there was still such extreme discrimination brought on the mindset that treating these newly “freed” men awfully was acceptable, and set the stage for the rise of many white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The Black Codes restricted the rights of the African-Americans in America so much that it was very hard for them to find work or places to live; there were many newly freed slaves who had nowhere to go because prejudice followed them at their every step. The Black Codes were also incredibly demoralizing to the African-American population in America at the time. The freedmen were expecting freedom from the new amendments, but instead found only more restrictions that were in many ways the same and in some cases worse than the laws they had been bound by as slaves. Replace “worker” and “employer” with “slave” and “master” in many of the laws, and laws like the one commanding workers to be brought back to their employers if they left before paying off their debts looks suspiciously like the Fugitive Slave Law.The Black Codes served to set racial tension between the two skin colors that still affects the nation greatly today. In these ways, the Black Codes were clearly a significant part of America’s history.
BLACK CODES 1865
The Black Codes
The Black Codes were a series of different laws and restrictions that were passed on African-American citizens in America after the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were passed. Many of these codes were set in documents such as the Civil Rights of Mississippi Freedmen. Some of the restrictions within this document included a penalty of life in prison for interracial marriage, workers not being allowed to leave before their “term” to their employer expires, and citizens being compelled by law to return any worker to their employer if the term has not been served. Another law exemplifying the Black Codes was the Mississippi Vagrant Law, which stated that all African-American people seen travelling without apparent “reason” or assembling together would be considered vagrants and fined and punished by the law (see link to picture below). One last example of the Black Codes was in the Penal Laws of Mississippi. According to the Penal Laws of Mississippi, no freedman was allowed to carry arms, any freedman “disturbing the peace” would be punishable by law, any white person lending ammunition or weaponry to a freedman would be punished by the law, and if a freedman could not pay their fine, they would work to pay off their debt. All of these different laws and restrictions were just part of the discrimination and poor treatment that the African-Americans in America suffered with the Black Codes.
The Black Codes were significant for a number of reasons. For one, they made it evident that the freed black people in America were still not truly equal to others, no matter what the amendments or other laws tried to accomplish. The fact that there was still such extreme discrimination brought on the mindset that treating these newly “freed” men awfully was acceptable, and set the stage for the rise of many white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The Black Codes restricted the rights of the African-Americans in America so much that it was very hard for them to find work or places to live; there were many newly freed slaves who had nowhere to go because prejudice followed them at their every step. The Black Codes were also incredibly demoralizing to the African-American population in America at the time. The freedmen were expecting freedom from the new amendments, but instead found only more restrictions that were in many ways the same and in some cases worse than the laws they had been bound by as slaves. Replace “worker” and “employer” with “slave” and “master” in many of the laws, and laws like the one commanding workers to be brought back to their employers if they left before paying off their debts looks suspiciously like the Fugitive Slave Law.The Black Codes served to set racial tension between the two skin colors that still affects the nation greatly today. In these ways, the Black Codes were clearly a significant part of America’s history.
Links to Primary Sources: PHOTO IN THESE LINKS!!
http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/253942?terms=the+black+codes
http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/293673?terms=the+black+codes
Links to Secondary Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/black-codes