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=The Black Codes=

The Black Codes were laws that were created by the states after the Civil War to place restrictions on the recently emancipated African Americans. The Freedmen were now free in the South, but were not yet considered citizens and the Black Codes made it seem as if the Freedmen were never emancipated period. These Black Codes were seen by many Northerners as an attempt by Southerners to escape the results of the Civil War by creating a "quasi-slavery" system.

In the South, the Freedmen only gained a limited amount of second class civil rights. The worst problem of them all was that they did not attain the right to vote. White Southerners feared that with emancipation, Freedmen would consider themselves to be equal to the whites, and therefore they passed the Black Codes. “Southern plantation owners feared that they would lose their land or, if not, that blacks would not do their field work.” ("Black Codes in the USA"). The Black Codes placed such restrictions on the Freedmen that they virtually were returned to a state of slavery.

Examples of the Black Codes

Mississippi

"Negroes must make [|annual contracts for their labor] in writing; if they should run away from their tasks, they forfeited their wages for the year. Whenever it was required of them they must present licenses (in a town from the mayor; elsewhere from a member of the board of police of the beat) citing their places of residence and authorizing them to work. Fugitives from labor were to be arrested and carried back to their employers. Five dollars a head and mileage would be allowed such negro catchers. It was made a misdemeanor, punishable with fine or imprison- ment, to persuade a freedman to leave his employer, or to feed the runaway. Minors were to be apprenticed, if males until they were twenty-one, if females until eighteen years of age. Such corporal punishment as a father would administer to a child might be inflicted upon apprentices by their masters. Vagrants were to be fined heavily, and if they could not pay the sum, they were to be hired out to service until the claim was satisfied. Negroes might not carry knives or firearms unless they were licensed so to do. It was an offence, to be punished by a fine of $50 and imprisonment for thirty days, to give or sell intoxicating liquors to a negro. When negroes could not pay the fines and costs after legal proceedings, they were to be hired at public outcry by the sheriff to the lowest bidder...."("Black Codes in the USA").

South Carolina

"In South Carolina persons of color contracting for service were to be known as "servants," and those with whom they contracted, as "masters." On farms the hours of labor would be from sunrise to sunset daily, except on Sunday. The negroes were to get out of bed at dawn. Time lost would be deducted from their wages, as would be the cost of food, nursing, etc., during absence from sickness. Absentees on Sunday must return to the plantation by sunset. House servants were to be at call at all hours of the day and night on all days of the week. They must be "especially civil and polite to their masters, their masters' families and guests," and they in return would receive "gentle and kind treatment." Corporal and other punishment was to be administered only upon order of the district judge or other civil magistrate. A vagrant law of some severity was enacted to keep the negroes from roaming the roads and living the lives of beggars and thieves."("Black Codes in the USA").

These Codes did not last very long, but they were the baby steps needed by the white population of the U.S to pass more laws and further increase the segregation and discrimination of African Americans. The Black Codes were laws which were passed that favored one party, white Americans, and disregarded the welfare of another, the African American Freedmen.

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