Black Codes

Discriminatory Laws During Slavery

Slavery was adopted because of the shortage of workers in the new North American colonies. The expansion of industry drove colonists to seek ways to maintain production without driving up the cost of labor. Chattel slavery was born in this economic environment, which would ultimately give slave-masters complete control of the enslaved workers.

Laws called “slave codes” were laws passed in the antebellum south that were designed to perpetuate the system of chattel slavery, permanently locking African Americans into a lifetime of bondage. These were the antecedents to the post-emancipation black codes, embedding in law a system of black inferiority and restricting slaves’ ability to marry, travel, or become free.

In the early part of the 17th century, blacks worked alongside white indentured servants and were of the same social status. By the late 1600s, laws were systematically implemented in the English colonies that began to greatly restrict the actions and behavior of blacks, which led to the racialization of slavery in the United States. There were significant differences in each colony's slave laws. Virginia, for example, was noted for having particularly harsh laws against African Americans. A 1669 law stated that if an enslaved person resisted his or her master and was killed while being punished, the master would not be charged for the crime. The assumption was that the slave-master did not have malicious intentions because no one would willfully destroy their own property.

But laws restricting black freedom were not limited to slaveholding states nor dependent on the institution of slavery. Northern states in the mid-19th century implemented laws restricting blacks, either prohibiting them from migrating to the state at all (as in Illinois in 1853) or prohibiting marriage between blacks and whites, as in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Such anti-miscegenation laws were standard in the south, and these border states were influenced by their neighbors.

Restriction on Free Blacks

Black codes had a negative impact on everything from the daily life of African Americans to legal proceedings. African Americans could not testify in court in cases that involved those of their own race. In addition, they could not vote or participate in any legal proceedings. Further, they could not own a home or property or even rent a place of residency. Beyond that, any type of speech or conversation by blacks that was deemed a threat to white society or individuals was considered criminal behavior. Anyone found guilty of actions considered to be seditious had to pay a hefty fine. In addition, blacks could not buy firearms and they were penalized if they violated curfew. The black codes became more and more restrictive for African Americans in an effort to perpetuate a white supremacist society. The primary effect this had on blacks during Reconstruction was to [Page 355]infringe their ability to be full American citizens; the black codes were dehumanizing. The laws enacted represented a continuation of the slave codes that had relegated blacks to nonhuman status during antebellum times.

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