Black Codes: A body of laws, statutes, and rules enacted by southern states immediately after the Civil War to regain control over the freed slaves, maintain white supremacy, and ensure the continued supply of cheap labor.
Immediately after the Civil War ended, Southern states enacted “black codes” that allowed African Americans certain rights, such as legalized marriage, ownership of property, and limited access to the courts, but denied them the rights to testify against whites, to serve on juries or in state militias, vote, or start a job without the approval of the previous employer. These codes were all repealed in 1866 when Reconstruction began.
But after the failure of Reconstruction in 1877, and the removal of black men from political offices, Southern states again enacted a series of laws intended to circumscribe the lives of African Americans. Harsh contract laws penalized anyone attempting to leave a job before an advance had been worked off. “Pig Laws” unfairly penalized poor African Americans for crimes such as stealing a farm animal. And vagrancy statutes made it a crime to be unemployed. Many misdemeanors or trivial offenses were treated as felonies, with harsh sentences and fines.
The Pig Laws stayed on the books for decades, and were expanded with even more discriminatory laws once the Jim Crow era began.
Black Code examples:
A sundown town is a town, city, or neighborhood in the US that was purposely all-white. The term came from signs that were posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown. They are also sometimes known as “sunset towns” or “gray towns”.
No freedmen, negro or mulatto shall carry or keep firearms or ammunition
Race was defined by blood; the presence of any amount of black blood made one black. (One drop rule)
This has been such a deep reminder of the brutality and man’s inhumanity to man that happened and continues to happen in many ways in our country – a country that’s touted as the first of first world nations – and the beacon of democracy, progress and equality.
My mother had to sit in a ‘colored’ waiting room holding a sick child all day until whites were seen first.
I remember the first time I saw a sign that read ‘No coloreds allowed’. Whites only. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t stop looking at it. I was a little girl but I knew when I read that sign I was not liked because of my blackness.
Of course I remember these laws all too well. We had colored and white beaches too.
The picture of the two water fountains brings back memories. When I was very young, I recall my grandmother taking me to town and we had to ride in the back of the bus. I also remember that my mom would make myself and my siblings use the bathroom before we went anywhere because the “Colored” restrooms were so nasty. I remember not being able to go into the best movie theaters in my city and having to order from the front counter in Krystal Restaurant. We could see whites sitting at the counters and tables in restaurants, but we could not do it.
I read a LTE in my local newspaper last week in which the writer said that black folks should stop bringing up the past. I turned 62 in December and the memories of what life was like under Jim Crow in GA remains. The writer was trying to blame the continued existence of racism on blacks but failed to realize the role many whites are playing/have played in it. She never mentioned that in order for racism to diminish/die out whites must stop stereotyping and scapegoating blacks, and they must make a real effort to stop discriminating against us. She also never mentioned that as alleged Christians who claim to believe that “man was made in God’s image,” the whites who continue with their racist beliefs and actions are lying to themselves. If they really believed God made us all, there would be no way they’d discriminate against anyone.
Majiir
Look at the difference between the water fountains. I can only imagine what the restrooms looked like.
These black codes have been in practice in the 21st century, they have been resurfacing at alarming rates since JANUARY 20, 2009.
Does this date ring a bell?
Yup.
“James T. Rapier, Testimony Before U.S. Senate Regarding the Agricultural Labor Force in the South (1880)”
http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/545/558647/ch16_a6_d2.pdf
Excerpts:
And who the hell had $500? This is how they kept them in debt. They’d never get out of it. It’s soul crushing just thinking about it.
Ferguson lawmakers are doing this with the poorest citizens. Penalizing them with bogus traffic tickets and such. Despicable!
Exactly. Black codes used right in Ferguson today. Another form of slavery.
Not just Ferguson.
I remember going to fight a traffic ticket and had to go to a different city, to the centralized court that services the entire area. It was disheartening watching all these young kids of color being charged with traffic offenses, walking out of that court with fines that often ran into thousands of dollars, and knowing full well that they could never pay them. This particular judge would not let them take the community service option. Wouldn’t allow it. And I’m thinking, if these kids could not afford the initial 100 bucks or so to smog their car to get their car tags renewed, or to maintain their insurance, where on earth are they going to find the $2500 to pay these bloody fines that have been piled on? It was easy to see how the downward spiral begins. How these kids are stuck with these ridiculous traffic ticket fines which then lead to warrants for their arrest when they can’t obviously pay them.
Thank you for your great article centering on the VERY important history of the harsh and unfair legal treatment that Blacks received.
An 1882 73-page Governor’s report published in Montgomery, AL entitled “Pardons, Commutations, and Reprives for 1878 to 1880. AND 1880 to 1882” gives us insight into the types of crimes that Blacks were arrested for and the hard labor they were sentenced to.
Here are some of the cases:
In the above Alabama state record representing the 4 years from 1878 to 1882 are 173 people listed with 107 listed as “colored” whose status was changed to “Pardoned, Commuted, or Reprieved.”
Thanks for this information, yb. I recall my mom talking about her uncle who was a sharecropper in Selma, Alabama. Every year when the crops were harvested, the white farmer always found a way to cheat him, leaving him in a state wherein it was very difficult for him to provide food and clothing for his wife and kids.
majiir, just to think of the exhausting hours that your uncle would have worked day in and day out on the farm and THEN to be cheated out of the fruits of his labor by the nasty practices of the landowner is SO upsetting.
I cannot imagine the stress your uncle experienced knowing he needed to support his wife and children.
I am feeling tense inside just thinking about this terrible wrong.
Hi Majiir
The white farmers kept the sharecroppers in debt to have a hold on them b/c they couldn’t make it without them. They couldn’t work the crop themselves but needed the black man yet cheated him to no end. I can’t describe my feelings on how black ppl suffered under these Black codes and Pig laws. My feelings range from tears to anger to profound sadness to rage. It was another form of slavery. Some families never saw their loved ones again. And these people had no conscience. They went about their lives as if nothing was happening. Stripping black folks of their humanity without a second thought. Just reporting about the injustice gets to me. It really does. My soul grieves.
@SG2. The emotional range is totally understandable, SG2. You fight hard to slap back these bigoted acts today. This is how we do it, channel that energy to affect the changes we want.
Yahtc, you’re always on top of things. Thank you for this.
You are very welcome.
I cannot imagine the huge number of Blacks who were not as fortunate as these people in being pardon. Just to think that over the years thousands and thousands of southern Blacks were sentenced to years of hard labor for the most trivial offenses!!
One more: