Black Codes

Definition

These were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War, with the intent to restrict African Americans' freedom and compel them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.

Related terms

Jim Crow Laws: These were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Sharecropping: This was a system where landowners allowed tenants to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced on it. It was another way of limiting economic freedom for African Americans post-Civil War.

Freedmen's Bureau: This was an agency established by Congress in 1865 to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South after the Civil War.