African American Slave Codes

The Virginia Slave Codes date all the way to early 1600s. During the 17th century, indentured servants, who decided to work for an affirmed amount of time in replace for their means of access to the "New World", were a handy resource of manual labor for the American colonies. Both blacks and whites served under the system (Goldenburg 1). White servants, after working out their time of agreement, often progressed to appreciated places in the society. On the other hand, their black correspondents, who totaled to about 2,000 in Virginia in 1670, were rarely given the same treatment. By the middle of the century, they were usually regarded as servants for life. In the late 1650s, laws referring to slaves started to

Opelousas, Louisianas’ Black Codes passed in 1865 stated that, no negro could come into town, live, rent, or use land in town, go to any public meeting in town without a pass from a government official or white boss, they also couldn’t carry a gun unless in the military (Doc. B) a white person could do these things by their own choice. Former slave Henry Adams said to the U.S. Senate in 1880 that, he once asked the madam “‘ where was the boss?”’ She said, “‘You should say ‘master’ You are not free... and you shall call every white lady ‘missus’ and every white man ‘master’.’” (Doc. C.), many would say African Americans weren’t free because whites didn’t think they

Slavery was not a word that was unknown in the United States of America; the word was at the tip of almost everyone’s tongue, only it came with many names. After the civil war, slavery became more pronounced for the black people. The south then thought something ought to be done and passed laws called the black codes which begun the limitation of blacks’ rights and separated them from the whites; white supremacy began. Before, these laws would have been unnecessary because most of the black people were slaves and they were already segregated in public places like schools and theatres. In 1866, Congress did not like this and they responded to these laws by putting a stop to it. Republicans had managed to begin reconstruction on the society and understand the black community. But in 1877 things took a turn for the worse when the Democratic parties recovered control and stopped the progress of reconstruction. This in turn caused the reverse of all the progress made in the past few years to understand the black community; they lost their rights to hold political seats, vote and generally participate as though they were members of the community. Slowly but surely, the south started to restore their racially unfair laws. The aim of the laws? To ensure segregation and alienation of the black community. One of the main powers taken away was the right to vote and they did this by imposing poll taxes, having expensive fees to be paid at the voting booths and

As a result of the North’s victory in the civil war and the reconstruction period that followed, African-Americans were seemingly on the verge of being able to enjoy the freedom of no longer being slaves. During the reconstruction era, important pieces of legislature were written in order to protect the rights of the newly freed men. Those pieces of legislature were essentially trying to somehow transform former slave into free productive members of society. However, a number of disgruntled southerners took it as their duty to prevent African-American from being free of their former masters. They saw the northerners demand as an infringement of the South traditional values. Although the

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 if you couldn’t control your own fate? Ever since you were little, your fate has already been decided for you. Any dream that you had, consider it gone. Going to school, finding a job, creating a family, take those lifetime goals and throw them out the window. You are forced to work for the rest of your life as a slave. That’s what life was like as an African American prior to Civil War. If you were African American, or even “one-drop” black, you were qualified to be part of the slave trade. Slaves didn’t know when their next meal was going to be or if they were even going to get one. Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from the time the sun would rise until sunset. Hours were long; men, woman, and children were worked to the bone and were expected to perform hard but not be given the proper food or sleep needed to refuel themselves. That’s what made the slave trade so horrible, African Americans weren’t looked at as human beings in society, and they were looked at as property. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours; there were no excuses for anyone who was African American. In class we talked about the United States Constitution and it’s significant to our nations history. It talks about the proper rights given to the people and the rules set forth for everyone to

In the American South, slaves were humiliated and considered as vulgar workers by being owned and treated without humanity by the employer showed in their living conditions, different treatment based on gender and age and the forced breakup of families.

Civil Rights, labor contracts, vagrancy, apprenticeship, courts, crimes, and punishments are policies that the government implement in attempt to uplift southern blacks. These rules bore a remarkable similarity to the antebellum slave codes. Restrictions Under presidential reconstruction, southern states recognized new constitutions and governments, which immediately determined to control the freedom of black through the way of laws called black codes. A reconstruction of Southern society to contain African Americans equally. There were some policies that were most successful in that it restored the United States as a unified nation. In 1877, a former confederate states had drafted new constitutions. For the most part, the North was an industrial

Black Codes: were passed by the south, they were made to limit the freedom of blacks so they would not be considered slaves however they were still treated like slaves due to the amount of restrictions made by these laws. If they quit before their contracts ended they would be subject to penalty and punishments. Black codes also restricted many of their civil rights not allowing them to be equal in the eyes of the government such as interracial marriages or being allowed to serve on a jury. These codes ultimately invalidated their freedom from slavery.

Prior to the emancipation of the slaves in the United States , there were several laws governing the identities and the relationships of people with slaves . These laws were prevalent in the states that allowed slavery , especially in the South . These codes stipulated the rights of masters toward their slaves and defined the status of slaves in the American society . These codes also gave white masters almost absolute power over their slaves . The rights of slaves were so minimal that they were considered as nothing more thanhuman properties who lives belong to their masters

But back to legal rights, in court, a slave's testimony was inadmissible in any case involving white people. Slaves could not own property, if they were attacked by a white person, they could not strike them. They were to take the beating passively. They could not be off of their slave owner's property unless given permission, they could not assemble to talk unless a white person was present, (you know, three for accountability..haha jk), they could not own any firearms, they were not allowed to be able to read or write, and they couldn't marry anybody. There were more restrictions, I'm sure, but those are the ones that I found. I'm not sure if free blacks had to follow these same rules, but I imagine not. They were definitely not treated as though they were free and equal to whites, but I don't think that they had to follow these guidelines. As far as court, most times, if it was a black person going up against a white person, the white person would win because of sheer bias on the judge and jury's part, but I think that that's pretty much

that treatment, and the conditions that lead to resistance by the slaves working in their various

Slaves had to abide by slave codes. These codes didn’t allow them even the simplest of rights.

These sources help us understand slavery and its centrality to American history and capitalism by teaching us that plantation owners hired overseers to watch over slaves to make sure they were doing what they were told, otherwise they were whipped until they got back to it. Any slaves that did not work hard enough, refused to do something, or did something they were not supposed to had punishments to come. Owners could do what they wanted, because slaves were thought of as property and nothing more. Although slave owners tried to destroy the salves hope, they never gave up their fight for freedom. The slaves were actually pretty clever with some of the things they would do to resist the control that was placed over them. We can learn that the

In the United States, a new kind of slavery was introduced. In other countries in previous times, slavery would be practiced if people were taken as prisoners of war, or if they owed an extreme debt. However, in the United States, slavery was based off of the inferiority of one race to another. This type of slavery was race-based generational, meaning that it is not possible to work your way out of it. During the beginnings of slavery in the south, the slave codes were introduced. The slave codes were southern state laws that defined slavery as a legal institution. In these laws slaves were defined as property, not as people. This gave them no legal rights or protections. This type of slavery is also known as chattel slavery. The treatment of slaves was determined by their owners. Slave owners had to find ways to motivate them to work. Some slave owners turned to punishment and torture, while others would give them privileges and treat them well