Historical Context: Black Codes, and Vagrancy Laws
After the Civil War ended slavery in the United States, the same Southerners who led the Confederacy initially controlled Southern State legislatures, where they sought new ways to maintain control over Black people’s lives and labor. By the fall of 1865, most Southern state legislatures passed a series of laws known as Black Codes, which severely restricted the freedom of Black people living in the South. According to historian Khalil Muhammad:
The black codes, for all intents and purposes, criminalized every form of African American freedom and mobility, political power, economic power, except the one thing [they] didn't criminalize was the right to work for a white man on a white man's terms.
These laws required all Black people, whether free or enslaved before the Civil War, to sign annual labor contracts with white employers. If they did not, or if they did not fulfill the terms of these contracts, they would be deemed vagrants and fined or imprisoned. While Black Codes were negated by the 1866 Civil Rights Act and 14th Amendment during Reconstruction, similar laws targeting Black Americans were enacted as the Reconstruction period ended. New vagrancy laws once again criminalized unemployment, and other statutes allowed for harsh punishments for even the most minor crimes. These laws were enforced in racially biased ways, as the police and judicial system targeted Black Americans.
1) Why is it significant that The Confedarcy controlled Southern State Legislatures?
2) Why do you think that local law enforcement were able to ignore the 1866 Civll Rights Act & 14th Amendment?
