African Americans : The Black Codes, And The Jim Crow Laws

Black Codes is the mainstream name given to the statutes went by Southern slave states, before and instantly after the American Civil War. From the pioneer time frame, provinces and states had passed laws that oppressed free Blacks. In the South, these were for the most part incorporated into slave codes; the objective was to lessen impact of free blacks as a result of their potential impact on slaves. Restrictions included denying them from voting, remaining battle ready, and assembling in gatherings for love and figuring out how to read and write. A noteworthy reason for these laws was to save slavery. In the initial two years after the Civil War, white ruled southern legislatures passed Black Codes displayed after the before slave codes.

Although freedom to become citizens took longer and the fight more difficult, a great number of African Americans steadily gained various rights which accumulated over time. It is important to note that racial segregations momentum dissipated over time as more and more blacks held positions of authority and congressional approval overwhelmingly supported more rights for blacks. Nonetheless, it is also imperative to consider how white supremacists such as the KKK fought to undo the important developments. Till this day, both the executive legislative and judiciary wings of government are constantly battling instances of racial segregation. However, the long range effects of federal government struggle to secure equal rights for African Americans has been significant successes in the rise of African American entrepreneurship. The proliferation of blacks in both government and civil society, the rise of blacks in academia, sports and liberal arts are long effects of the fight for African American rights. This has progressively opened up American society and in a way, levelled the playing field. Also this federal government action to intervene in the affairs of the state has lived on throughout the 21st century.

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

Especially considering the Civil Rights Movement was over 50 years ago. “IT IS NO ACCIDENT that the pivotal Supreme Court decision launching the modern civil rights movement was an education case -- the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling.” (Leadership Conference)

Even after the hurdle of being enslaved was passed, there were many more and difficult hurdles ahead. For example, the black codes were an earlier major hurdle. The codes prevented African Americans from owning weapons, votes, and land. While the Black Codes were quickly abolish; a group emerged called the Ku Klux Klan which aimed to bring down African Americans to be seen as less than then human. However, the Jim Crow laws caused separation, and that separation led to African Americans having unequal opportunities. These laws were claimed to be constitutional, because they didn't deprive any person of life, liberty, or property; or trying to include slavery. From the Black codes to Jim Crow laws, African Americans had, and have many hurdles to overcome.

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.

The whole Jim Crow Law rules were based on the separate but equal properties. Any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the south between the end of reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Jim crow laws affected public places such as schools, housing jobs, parks, cemeteries, and public gathering places. Ohio was one of the first to ban interracial marriage. There was forms of segregation before the laws came into place. For instance some people had the mentality that they could work with a slave as long as the slave knew his or her place. Brown vs. Board of Education is an example of a Jim Crow law being put into action. After the supreme court unanimously held that racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause.

David W. Blight of Yale University said, “The nation needed to heal the sectional divide in order to function as one country.” Healing to African Americans meant trying to understand their role as a citizen, reuniting family members, and establishing their new freedoms as citizens. Many problems interfered with this process. Black codes, Redemption, and Jim Crow are all examples of initial offering and then revoking of freedoms toward African Americans throughout Reconstruction. African Americans did not lose without a fight though; some even maintained it. Blacks resisted their revocation of their freedom through the development of Alliances and Leagues, which helped them liberate themselves of black codes and white supremacy. African

In 1865, the United States government implemented what was known as Reconstruction. Its’ purpose was to remove slavery from the south, and give African-American’s the freedom in which they deserved. However, the freedom that they deserved was not the freedom that they received. With documents like The Black Codes restricting them from numerous privileges that white people had and the terroristic organization known as the Klu Klux Klan attacking and killing them, African-American’s were still being oppressed by their government as well as their fellow man. Slavery may have been abolished, but African-American’s were not yet given the freedom and rights that their white counterparts took for granted.

After the Union's victory of the recent Civil War, the South is very damaged. There are over four million former slaves that do not know what to do with themselves. Under President Andrew Johnson's authority, there are new laws being made for the blacks. The name of the laws will be the "Black Codes". These codes are controlling the black's labor and life. They state what the African Americans are able to, and not, do. The North side is absolutely enraged by the codes. They just fought for the freedom of the slaves, and now the South are continuing to restrict them.

Slavery had been abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, however the white South were determined to keep the Africans in his place, socially, politically, and economically. Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War. And under President Johnson’s policies of reconstruction, nearly all the southern states would enact their own black codes in 1865 and 1866.These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting Africans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy sharecrop environment based on cheap labor. The black codes got their roots from the slave codes prior to the civil war. The general philosophy supporting the institution of chattel slavery in America was based on the concept that slaves were property, not persons, and that the law must protect not only the property but also the property owner from the danger of violence. The possibility of slave rebellions and uprisings was a constant threat in the states with large slave populations, along with

“For the next several decades, at least, we will suffer this racial future of colorblind white dominance” Ian Haney-López argues in his book White by Law, however America today, though colorblind as America may be, is in a much better place than the times of the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. These laws restricted the freedoms of African Americans living in the United States that just became free men and women after the turn of the Civil War.

The Great Migration and African American battle for civil rights has been a continuing battle that was centered on prejudice, injustice, and lack of support from the government. In the Jim Crow South there was a huge discrepancy between whites and African Americans. They were treated poorly and received harsh treatment everywhere they went. For example, “A negro woman in Georgia resisted the offensive attention of a white ruffian, with the result that her house, with all her possessions, was burned, and notice served on her to leave the community at once or she would pay the penalty at the rope’s end (The Migration of Negros, p.g. 52).” This incident shows how powerful the Jim Crow south was and how racial superiority showed in a malevolent way. The violence and injustice taken towards African Americans were vile and the conditions of their situation. The conditions many African American faced were cruel and the living situations were harsh as most African Americans lived in the Jim Crow South. The conditions and the destruction of African Americans political rights, the curtailment of their civil rights, and the lack of protection in life made it difficult for them to gain equality (The Migration of Negros, p.g. 47). African Americans fought for their rights through media and protests. There were many movies and media displays that created stereotypes and harsh views among the African American culture and the way to fight back would be to counter those stereotypes and negative views. The South made it extremely difficult for African Americans as it created social, political, and economic inequality. The Great Migration and fighting for equal rights pushed African Americans further into equality.

Confusion abounded in the still-smoldering South about the precise meaning of “freedom” for blacks. Emancipation took effect haltingly and unevenly in different parts of the conquered Confederacy. As Union armies marched in and out of various localities, many blacks found themselves emancipated and then re-enslaved. Blacks from one Texas county fleeing to the free soil of the liberated county next door were attacked by slave owners as they swam across the river that marked the county line. The next day trees along the riverbank were bent with swinging corpses – a grisly warning to others dreaming of liberty. Other planters resisted emancipation more legalistically, stubbornly protesting that slavery was lawful until state legislatures or

Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, searching for equality and protected