The Virginia's Statutes Summary

(Voices, pg. 69-67). Elizabeth describes her daily routine and the diet of Corn and salt which the Africans would welcome. Her garments are tattered and leaves much to be

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

In 1705, a law was passed that made the status of African slaves very clear. The Act of the Virginia General Assembly stated that slaves were the property of their owners and could be punished even by death as seen fit by the master.

The historical records of the 1640s show the beginning and growth of African slavery in the Chesapeake area. The constantly growing of tobacco planting caused a higher demand for labor, resulting in an increase in African slavery and indentured servants. The condition for black and white servants varied sharply. The white indentured servants started getting an improved status while the black servants began losing more freedoms. A Virginia law of 1662 also caused a rise in the number of slaves because it stated that the status of the offspring followed that of the mother. This means that any children of a slave woman and a white man would live as a slave, which led to an increase in the sexual abuse of slave women. The shift from white indentured

She emphasizes that the life of a slave woman is incomparable to the life of a slave man, in the sense that a woman’s sufferings are not only physical but also extremely mental and emotional. Whether or not a slave woman is beaten, starved to death, or made to work in unbearable circumstances on the fields, she suffers from and endures horrible mental torments. Unlike slave men, these women have to deal with sexual harassment from white men, most often their slave owners, as well as the loss of their children in some cases. Men often dwell on their sufferings of bodily pain and physical endurance as slaves, where as women not only deal with that but also the mental and emotional aspect of it. Men claim that their manhood and masculinity are stripped from them, but women deal with their loss of dignity and morality. Females deal with the emotional agony as mothers who lose their children or have to watch them get beaten, as well as being sexually victimized by white men who may or may not be the father of their children. For these women, their experiences seem unimaginable and are just as difficult as any physical punishment, if not more so.

In 1662, the state of “Virginia enacted a law of hereditary slavery meaning that a child born to an enslaved mother inherits her slave status. Massachusetts reversed a ruling dating back to 1652 that allowed blacks to train in arms. New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire passed similar laws restricting the bearing of arms. In 1663 Maryland legalized slavery. In 1664, New York and New Jersey legalize slavery. In 1664, Maryland is the first colony to take legal action against marriages between white women and black men. In 1664, The State of Maryland mandated lifelong servitude for all black slaves. New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, and Virginia all pass similar laws. In 1666, Maryland passed a fugitive slave law. In 1667, Virginia declared that Christian baptism will not alter a person 's status as a slave. In 1668, New Jersey passed a fugitive slave law. In 1670, The State of Virginia prohibited free blacks and Indians from keeping Christian (i.e. white) servants. In 1674, New York declared that blacks who convert to Christianity after their enslavement will not be freed.”

During 1619 where slavery fist appeared in Virginia, a Dutch warship brought more than twenty African men and women that were obtained as slaves in the Caribbean. There were many laws that Virginia created restricting freedom of African slaves. For example, Virginia passed a law that restrained Africans from carrying weapons (Jones, 82). It seemed as if Virginia created laws year after year restricting African men and/or women into doing/not doing particular things. During 1643, a law had passed that taxed productive field hands of African American women but not white women. Again, in Virginia, planters passed a set of laws that improved differences between slaves working for a specific period and they consigned to

it was declared in Virginia that it would not be a crime to kill a disobedient slave while punishing him/her. Moreover in 1669, slave masters were banned from emancipating slaves. Slaves that were given their freedom could not stay in the colony. Furthermore, Virginia voted to banish Europeans who marry a black, mulatto, or Indian person. It can be concluded that these laws fashioned the chattel slavery in the United States

Some were enacted to benefit the black population while other did not. The beneficial Black Codes in the State of Alabama, resulted in the repealing old laws “preventing the sale of liquors for free negroes and for other purposes.” Black’s possess the same rights as whites in court, to sue or be sued, testify and become witnesses in court proceedings. Preventing persons from interfering or induce laborers or servants to abandon their contracts. To the negative, Judges could “bind out as apprentices the children of any person unable to provide for their support, until the age of twenty-one years if a male, and sixteen years if a female,” later the age for female’s was changed to eighteen. Counties established poor-houses and houses of correction to utilized the placement of vagrants who were individuals the counties deem as “stubborn or refractory servant” or “loiters away his time.” Finally, laws defining the duties of master and apprentice, including the treatment authorized by masters to inflicted on their apprentices. The word “Slave” is conveniently substituted with the word “apprentice.” Vagrants, orphans, and children of parents who could not support were placed with masters as apprentices, in some cases placing freed slaves with their previous master. These Black Codes demonstrates some advances for blacks, however if they failed

In the article “The Racist roots of Virginia’s felon disenfranchisement” by the Atlantic newspaper, basically it explains how Virginia, with the help of Jim Crow laws violated the rights for the African American to vote and to have equal liberty. It all came along with the poll taxes, literacy test, grandfather clauses and cross burning were used against the African Americans. “… The Republican Party ‘not only committed a stupendous blunder, but a great crime against civilization and Christianity’ against the south,” which it basically Virginia as one of the slave states, and didn’t follow the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment that was giving for the African Americans.

The period of the antebellum south was among the most burdensome times for African American slaves, especially females. During the early 1800s the lives of enslaved women were extremely demanding. The female slaves were expected to bear children, as well as were required to work just as hard as the male slaves on the plantation. Days were long and laborious for slave mothers, they had to make sure that all the work that needed to be done was completed, and also care for their children. Female slaves’ jobs varied from housework, to field work. Slave mothers knew that giving up on their work was not an option, they had to persevere for their families. Motherhood and work went hand in hand for female slaves, one was not able to do one and not the other.

In Israel on the Appomattox author Melvin Patrick Ely uses the case study of Prince Edward County, Virginia, to shift the historiography surrounding the treatment of free blacks in the Antebellum South. While the current historiography paints the Antebellum South as attempting to subjugate free blacks into a system “‘as near to slaver as possible’” (p. 437), Ely posits that because of the existence of black slavery “Southern whites felt secure enough to deal fairly and even respectfully with free African Americans” (p. x). And though Ely agrees that “laws and public statements about free blacks in the Old South constitute a sordid parade of mean-spiritedness” (p. 436), the actual behavior of white citizens of Prince Edward County rarely align with “the path their social ideology prescribed” (p. 440). In going against the previously well-established understanding of the relationship between free blacks and whites, Ely has placed upon himself the large onus of disproving so many who have come before him, and the approach he takes within Israel on the Appomattox is as fascinating as it is convincing.

In the following paper, I will defend the legality of Virginia Code section 18.2-422 in relation to the First Amendment. In particular, I will highlight the reasons as to why it does not violate the First Amendment. Building off of this, I will then use my argument to defend my reasoning as to why Hernandez does not have the right to express himself in such a manner. Once I have demonstrated my argument, I will offer a possible objection and then follow that with a reply.

The Black Codes was masked slavery. Other than some new, small leniencies, Mississippi succeeded in making laws that that still controlled African Americans. These Sections were created for the South to bend the rules by exploiting children. These laws were aimed at minors under the age of 18 that were orphans or whose parents were unable to financially provide for them. At this point, the child would be placed back in the “care” of their former master or mistress. These codes stated that the best interest of the minor was to be protected, that they were to be fed, clothed, treated humanely; taught to read if under the age of fifteen and to receive medical attention when sick. In return, the minor, or apprentice would be bounded by indenture until the age of eighteen for a female and twenty one for a male. It was also acceptable for the former owner to chastise under what was allowed for punishment by the common law. If the child were to escape, it was permitted to place the child in jail if refused to return. That only discharge from a master/mistress would be possible if the courts believed the apprentice had a good cause to quit. Those are just few examples to begin with. These codes essentially worked to separate the races in all aspects of life from children to adults, such as marriage, which would result in life in prison if wedded to a white person. They also were not allowed to own any type of weapon unless they served in the United States military, and were to be fined and possibly imprisoned to even drinking liquor to a level of intoxication. Over all, these are just a few of the examples that were laws to “freed” men to be kept

Slavery was a horrible institution that dehumanized a race of people. Female slave bondage was different from that of men. It wasn't less severe, but it was different. The sexual abuse, child bearing, and child care responsibilities affected the females's pattern of resistance and how they conducted their lives. Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, demonstrates the different role that women slaves had and the struggles that were caused from having to cope with sexual abuse.