The Reconstruction Era: The Black Codes

The black codes were a series of laws enacted in 1865 and 1866 by the Southern states. They were created during the end of the Civil war and the beginning of the Reconstruction Era. 

These were public laws that restricted the civil rights of minorities.

The black codes restricted the rights for free black people to own property, conduct business, buy and lease land, and move freely through public spaces such as Southern towns.

Examples of these codes were:

White primary

Poll tax

Literacy tests

Property ownership required to vote

Grandfather clause

White primary was the practice of keeping African Americans from voting in Southern States' primaries through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation.

These practices included: poll tax, which is where voters had to pay a fee in order to vote, literacy tests, which ensured that voters could read and write prior to voting and the requirement of property ownership in order to vote.

If any of these practices applied to whites, they would still be able to vote by using the Grandfather clause, which meant that anybody whose ancestors were able to vote prior to 1867 could vote regardless of the registrations.

The purpose of the black codes were to regain control over the freed slaves, inhibit the freedom of freed slaves, prevent black uprisings, ensure the continued supply of cheap labor, maintain segregation and to maintain white supremacy.

Links:

History: Black codes

PBS: Black codes