Essay On Black Codes

1: Black Codes: A body of laws, statutes, and rules enacted by southern states immediately after the Civil War to regain control over the freed slaves, maintain white supremacy, and ensure the continued supply of cheap labor.

Actual laws are quoted from Alabama (1923), Louisiana (1956), and Mississippi (1945) to show the extent of discrimination and prejudice. An example of laws in Louisiana was that there should be separate facilities based on race. “All such sanitary facilities, eating places and drinking facilities shall be designated ‘FOR WHITES ONLY’ and ‘FOR COLORED ONLY’ respectively. Any person…violating the provisions… shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than $100 or more than $1,000 and imprisoned for not less than 60 days or more than 1 year.” (Paragraph 5). The Jim Crow Laws made segregation legal and formalized in society; those who disobeyed were unfairly punished with fines or even

The Mississippi Black code was a code to restore slavery and white supremacy by calling it something different. Yes, there were given the rights like legal marriage, own property, limited access to courts but there were not allowed to do many things. One tiny mistake and they would be send to jail with a high jail bond. Rich white men would pay their jail bond only to put the blacks in debt with

In 1865 and 1866 white southerners put in place a series of laws called “Black Codes”. They passed the laws in order to oppress freed slaves and ensure that they would keep their workers and forced them into yearly “Labor Contracts” and if they refused they could be fined or forced into unpaid labor.

The Mississippi legestalator presented the information with theses statutes in the form of “black codes”. They used these black codes to get there point across. Which was the fact that slavery shouldn’t have been abolished in the first place. Even though there is still a lot of racism in the world today there is no longer slavery or black codes. As far as how other would other would react to the source

There important things that were granted to Mississippi's African American population by the Black Codes but, there are also major restrictions of this legal code placed on Mississippi African Americans started with the Apprentice Law. This law has 10 sections that both grant but restrict Mississippi’s African American population. The first states that courts were authorized to apprentice the black children whose parents did not support nor provide for them, or orphans, even against their will, to an employer until the age of 21 for males and 18 for females. This first section does not necessary make blacks free from being apprenticed until they reach the required age. The second section states that the master or mistress is to protect the interest of their apprentice. This included their safety;

Black Codes were enacted in 1865 and 1866 by new southern state governments. Similar to the Slave Codes that existed before the Civil War, these Black Codes sought to regulate past slaves lives such as prohibiting freed slaves to serve on juries or to testify against a white person in court. Although the Black Codes granted African Americans to possess and sell property and legalized black marriages, interracial marriage between white and black Americans was outlawed. Unfortunately, some states even went further to control the lives of African Americans by limiting their economic freedoms such as, preventing any African Americans from purchasing or renting farmland in the state of Mississippi. As a result of decreeing the Black Codes, a division

The government fined vagrants and delinquents and forced them to work. Black codes were a government promoted version of slavery; allowing forms of corporal punishment, also making it illegal

It also ensured that their family would be under bondage as well. This insured that the white slave owners would always have slaves for their future family and they wouldn't run out. The slave codes were controlling and ruthless rules and regulations that black slaves were expected and forced to follow. They prohibited the slaves from owning property, getting married to whites, voting, gathering together, and testifying against whites in court.

Mississippi Black Codes were written out of frustration of the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. To Southerners at the time, it seemed unacceptable to deem newly freedmen citizens, much less people. Furthermore, the implementation of Black Codes was far less romantic than what is consecrated in the legal writings. Often times African Americans were abused and simply treated as livestock for the “violations” in which they encroached upon. Further under the surface as to why these laws existed was a spurn of hate for the African American. Because of the fears of what these people could do, as well as the newfound economic burden placed upon plantation owners, legislators wanted to make sure that since African Americans were no longer slaves they could not enjoy the same rights as Caucasian Americans. Contrary to the Black Codes, Ida Wells and Dr. King spoke of peaceful justice being approached and achieved. How they chose to conduct themselves was far less abrasive and violent than how most Southern bureaucrats approached the issue. Wells and King spoke of endearment and acceptance, choosing not the view the difference in pigmentation a reason for discrimination but rather a reason to love and commune. The believed this way because they believed in the value of human life. There was no difference to value one human less than another because of skin tone; African Americans had every right to American freedom as their Caucasian brothers and sisters. When being attacked for their beliefs, King chose not to fight fire with fire, but rather endure the persecution which he was subject to so that the validity of his message would not be undermined. The differences vastly separate the quality of Wells and Dr. king versus Mississippi Black Codes. It is the differences, not the similarities, which allow the United States to

Soon after the war, and after slavery was ended, there was a shortage of people to work for those who once had slaves as their main workforce. This posed a challenge for the southern economy. So during the constitutional convention of 1865 various states including South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi included language in their state constitutions that regulated and managed the now free slaves. This served at the basis for the Black Codes -- a series of codes that restricted the rights of African Americans. These Black Codes made it difficult for former slaves to work in a labor economy that wasn’t based on low wages and debt tactics, as well as restricted them from owning property, conduct business, and move freely through public spaces.

The state of Mississippi, as well as many other southern states, created what was known as The Black Codes. The Black Codes of Mississippi were essentially put in place to keep African-American’s living in Mississippi from being able to live their lives as white men and women could during the time of Reconstruction. Different codes were enforced in different states, but they were all based around the same idea that African-American’s should have to follow a different set of rules and regulations than whites due to the simple fact that they were black. One of these codes even violated the Second Amendment. In section one under the Penal Laws of Mississippi category it is clearly stated that no freedman, unless employed by the United States military or properly licensed by a board

With the Union victory in the Civil War in 1865, millions of slaves were given their freedom. Although these millions of slaves are now free, the rebuilding on the South during the Reconstruction introduced many obstacles. These obstacles include sharecropping, tenant farming, the “black codes”, and not to forget the lack of education and rights African Americans had at the time. Sharecropping is consisted of a slave renting land from a white man and having to give up a portion of their crops at the end of each year. The black codes were basically laws against what type of labor African Americans can be given. In the state of South Carolina, blacks were only able to work as farmers or servants; the same jobs these free people worked as slaves. After decades of slavery, blacks were still under the control of the white people due to lack of education and rights.

     Imagine yourself wrongly convicted of a crime. You spent years in jail awaiting your release date. It finally comes, and when they let you out, they slap handcuffs around your wrists and tell you every single action you do. In a nutshell, that’s how the Black Codes worked. The southerners wanted control over the blacks after the Civil War, and states created their own Black Codes.

Despite the black codes had provided rights such as the marriage legalization and the ownership of property, they violated the free labor principle and denied the African-Americans the right to vote, and sue any white man. Foner (2014) found “In response to planter’s demands that freed people be required to work on the plantations, the Black Codes declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners” (p. 570) . In fact, it was a totally failure of what freedom was supposed to be.