What was black codes

But the war also left them landless and with little money to support themselves. White Southerners, seeking to control the freedmen former slaves , devised special state law codes.

Many Northerners saw these codes as blatant attempts to restore slavery. The task of reuniting the nation fell on his shoulders. A Southerner, Johnson favored readmitting the Southern states as quickly as possible into the Union.

He appointed military governors who held complete power in the former Confederate states until new civilian governments could be organized. Little thought had been given to the needs of the newly emancipated slaves. It furnished food and medical aid to the former slaves. It also established schools for the freedmen. By , a quarter million black children and adults attended more than 4, of these schools in the South.

It tried to make sure that the former slaves received fair wages and freely chose their employers. The bureau created special courts to settle disputes between black workers and their white employers. It could also intervene in other cases that threatened the rights of freedmen. They sought to restore self-rule.

During the summer and fall of , most of the old Confederate states held constitutional conventions. Not surprisingly, none of the state conventions considered extending the right to vote to the freedmen.

By the end of the year, most of the South had held elections under the new state constitutions. Often, ex-Confederate leaders won elections for state government offices and for U. The newly formed state legislatures quickly authorized many needed public projects and the taxes to pay for them. Among these projects was the creation, for the first time in the South, of free public education.

But the public schools excluded black children. The state legislatures also began to pass laws limiting the freedom of the former slaves. These laws mirrored those of colonial times, which placed severe restrictions on both slaves and emancipated blacks. Neither of these groups could vote, serve on juries, travel freely, or work in occupations of their choice. Even their marriages were outside the law.

The white legislators saw little reason not to continue the tradition of unequal treatment of black persons. White Southerners also feared that if freedmen did not work for white landowners, the agricultural economy of the South would collapse.

Although the federal government had confiscated some Confederate lands and given them to freed slaves, it never planned to do this on a massive scale. Nonetheless, expecting their own plots of land, blacks in large numbers refused to sign work contracts with white landowners for the new year.

At the same time, Southern whites passed around their own rumor that blacks would rise in rebellion when the free land failed to appear on Christmas Day. All these economic worries, prejudices, and fears helped produce the first Black Codes of These codes consisted of special laws that applied only to black persons.

The first Black Code, enacted by Mississippi, proved harsh and vindictive. Its major features included the following:. Shops served them last. It listed establishments where African-American travelers could expect to receive unprejudiced service.

Segregated public schools meant generations of African-American children often received an education designed to be inferior to that of whites—with worn-out or outdated books, underpaid teachers, and lesser facilities and materials. In , the Supreme Court declared discrimination in education unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , but it would take another 10 years for Congress to restore full civil rights to minorities, including protections for the right to vote.

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Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. After the United States Civil War devastated the country, President Abraham Lincoln aimed to reunite the nation as quickly as possible. Before the war even ended he had created a plan referred to as Reconstruction. However, a week after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President.

Black codes were established in many states that curtailed the rights of African Americans. Congress responded with the Civil Rights Act of , but that did not prevent states from passing discriminatory legislation. It provided a critical venue for debating national concerns and strategizing to protect the interests of black people. Click here for a printable version of the Fourteenth Amendment Discussion Starter questions! Sign up for our email newsletter.