Black Codes

Black Codes

This paper shall review the Jim Crow laws of the South, that are also known as “black codes”. Black codes were generally posted all over establishments to keep “blacks in check” or in control. The Codes were another form of slavery for the recently “freed” African Americans. They were used to eliminate any sense of accomplishment for the African American people.

The freedom for African Americans were violated after the civil war, due to black codes. With these black codes came the intimidation and violence from a group called the Klu Klux Klan.

The freedman’s lives was regulated by black codes even the freedom to migrate. Blacks could not enter certain towns without permission so hopes of finding family that were sold during slavery were a challenge. There was also vagrancy laws that stated all freedman were vagrancy if they did not have a job or they were homeless. Black codes created segregation in public facilities and of imprisonment, if broken.

The fithteenth amendment gave blacks there right to vote. That right stopped by ex-confederates and the klu Klux klan. The clan wanted to keep freedmen in their place as penniless and powerless laborers. They believed in total white supremacy. Any freedman caught trying to vote or achieve equality were brutally beaten or killed. With no help from congress or Andrew Johnson freedman were still at the bottom of the food chain. The formation of the klu Klux klan was the essential component that made sure the black codes were enforced.