{"id":2847,"date":"2019-06-30T19:16:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T19:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2847"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:16:53","slug":"black-codes-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/black-codes-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Codes in the United States: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Black Codes in the United States were a set of laws that controlled the lives of African Americans from the time of the 19th century.\u00a0 Due to this timeframe, the Black Codes related to the issue of\u00a0slavery in the United State<\/a>s\u00a0and were in place widely before and after the events of the\u00a0American Civil War<\/a>.\u00a0 With that said, Black Codes became more prominent following the end of slavery and were used as a way of controlling the behavior of free African Americans, during the Reconstruction Era<\/a>.\u00a0 The Black Codes were not generally for slaves as they were controlled by their slavery, and the related\u00a0Slave Codes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Slavery in the United States<\/a> existed from the period of\u00a0Colonial America\u00a0in the early 17th century until the events of the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 until 1865.\u00a0 Throughout this timeframe, many slaves were brought from Africa to the territory of the United States via the\u00a0Atlantic Slave Trade.\u00a0 Many of these slaves ended up working on plantations and households across the United States and played a significant role in the production of certain goods.\u00a0 However, slavery in the United States came into question in the 19th century due to the growth of the\u00a0American Abolitionist Movement. The American Abolitionist Movement<\/a> is the name for the advancements made in the United States towards ending the practise of slavery.\u00a0 For instance, the term \u2018abolition\u2019 means to stop or end something.\u00a0 As such, an abolitionist is someone who was working to ban slavery.\u00a0 Throughout the 19th century, slavery was ended in different parts of the United States.\u00a0 As such, this led to regions implementing their own \u2018Black Codes\u2019 as a way of still controlling different aspects of African Americans and their role in the larger society.\u00a0 For instance, the Northern states and Southern states differed on the use and type of Black Codes that were used.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Slavery
Slaves working on a plantation in the United States. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

BLACK CODES BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Black Codes were common throughout both the Northern and Southern states in the decades before the start of the American Civil War.  For example, in the Northern states, black people were generally not allowed to vote and faced segregation in some public spaces.  This means that there were sometimes different facilities for white people and black people in public spaces, such as washrooms.  It should be noted that different states had different Black Codes, which meant that black people faced very different conditions across the country.  Regardless, it was common for states to ban marriage between white people and black people.  As well, some Northern states, including Indiana and Illinois, had rules against black people from out-of-state moving into or staying in their state for an extended period of time.  In general though, the Southern states had more harsh Black Codes.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Southern states, the history of Black Codes was well established and centered on the history of slavery.\u00a0 Similar to the Northern states, the Southern \u2018slave\u2019 states passed laws against black and white people marrying each other.\u00a0 As stated above, the Southern states\u2019 Black Codes were fairly harsh.\u00a0 This was due to the history of slavery in the South, but also as a result of the events of Nat Turner\u2019s Slave Rebellion<\/a> in 1831.\u00a0Nat Turner\u2019s Slave Rebellion\u00a0refers to a slave revolt that occurred in 1831 in Virginia.\u00a0 Nat Turner was an African American slave that led the rebellion, which lasted for four days and led to the deaths of dozens of people. The rebellion while not sparking a larger revolt among slaves, created a deep sense of fear in white people throughout regions of the United States.\u00a0 As such, many of the Black Codes of the Southern states were based around controlling the behavior of blacks, while limiting their ability to advance.\u00a0 For instance, free blacks in the South were not allowed to own or use guns and were forbidden from learning how to read or write.\u00a0 They were also denied basic rights such as the ability to assemble into groups and freedom of speech.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nat
Woodcut of Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion from 1831. It shows several different scenes related to the major events of the slave rebellion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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BLACK CODES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0American Civil War<\/a>\u00a0and the events surrounding it were incredibly significant to the lives of African Americans.\u00a0 It occurred from 1861 until 1865 and saw the Northern states (Union) engage in a series of bloody battles with the Southern states (Confederacy).\u00a0 Ultimately, the Union won the Civil War and slavery as a practise came to an end in the United States.\u00a0 This resulted in millions of former slaves gaining their freedom and impacted the role of Black Codes in the United States.\u00a0 For example, although African Americans had gained their freedom, they still experienced racism.\u00a0 In fact, many states sought to control the lives of the former slaves.\u00a0 This was especially true in the Southern states, who had just suffered defeat in the Civil War.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, a common Black Code after the end of the Civil War was related to vagrancy.  In short, vagrancy is a term used to relate to a state of poverty or homelessness.  This was more common among former slaves since they struggled with employment and other economic opportunities.  States responded by passing vagrancy laws, which made it illegal to be unemployed or homeless.  This led to many former slaves being arrested and placed either in prison or in prison work camps where they essentially worked for no pay as prisoners.  Vagrancy laws were especially common throughout the Southern states, as many of them adopted the laws in the years immediately after the end of the Civil War.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides vagrancy laws, other earlier examples of Black Codes also remained in effect.  For example, gun ownership was banned for blacks in some states.  As well, there were laws against white people and black people marrying or carrying on an intimate relationship.  Furthermore, some states restricted the ability of blacks to own property or buy and sell certain goods.  This obviously created economic hardship for black people and displays that Black Codes were often used to control the lives of former slaves.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many in the Northern states were angered by the use of Black Codes in the Southern states as they viewed it as the Southern states trying to carry on certain elements of slavery.\u00a0 As a result, in the years after the end of the Civil War, the government passed several new amendments which are usually referred to as the \u2018Reconstruction Amendments<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 These include the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.\u00a0 The\u00a0Thirteenth Amendment<\/a>\u00a0of the United States Constitution formally abolished slavery in the United States.\u00a0 Next, the\u00a0Fourteenth Amendment<\/a>\u00a0dealt with citizenship rights and equal protection under the law for former slaves. Finally, the\u00a0Fifteenth Amendment<\/a>\u00a0protected the right to vote for people especially in relation to former slaves.\u00a0 The government used the Reconstruction Amendments as a means of protecting former slaves.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ku
Cartoon from 1874 that shows that the Ku Klux Klan made life worse for former slaves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Despite the passage of the Reconstruction Amendments, the lives for black people in the United States remained difficult.\u00a0 For instance, throughout the 19th century and 20th century, African Americans were subject to racism and racial violence.\u00a0 This violence was exemplified by the actions of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan<\/a>, which is a white supremacist hate group that often targeted African Americans.\u00a0 As well, as time passed, the Black Codes were eventually transformed into the Jim Crow Laws.\u00a0 This occurred following the end of the Reconstruction Era<\/a>.\u00a0 The Jim Crow Laws<\/a> embraced segregation between white people and black people.\u00a0 Jim Crow Laws remained an important part of American life until the mid-20th century and the events of the\u00a0Civil Rights Movement<\/a>.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Civil
Photograph of leaders of the Civil Rights ‘March on Washington’, D.C. (1963) (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Codes in the United States were laws passed to restrict the freedom and rights of African Americans. This article details the history and significance of the Black Codes in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":12,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,30,58,55,36],"tags":[89,57,91,15,71],"class_list":["post-2847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reconstruction","category-american-civil-war","category-american-history","category-black-history","category-slavery-in-the-united-states","tag-american-civil-war","tag-american-history","tag-black-history","tag-history","tag-slavery-in-the-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5119,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2847\/revisions\/5119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}