Black Codes Enacted In The South By A. H. Clark

My group has decided that our position on whether or not African Americans were free during Reconstruction was that they were not. To prove this we used 4 documents out of the 5 provided. From document A, ammendments were established and to be specific the 13th ammendment. The 13th ammendment states that slavery shouldnt exist within the United States unless as a punishment for crime. However, during the same time this ammendment wwas passed, Henry Adams was told to call the boss and madam , "master" and "missus",, which are terms that are usually used in slavery due to the owner and slave relationship .But

During the reconstruction era the Civil Rights Act of 1875 protected all Americans, regardless of their race, equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and to prohibit exclusion from jury service, however it was not enforced and the supreme court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. The Court ruled that the 14th Amendment prohibited states, but not citizens, from discriminating. This civil rights reversal was devastating for African

In the southern states, politicians came up with Black Code Laws which laid out what freed African Americans were and weren’t allowed to do. These laws made African American’s First and Second Amendments very limited and were used to target people because of the color of their skin even though they were technically ‘free’. According to my notebook, while taking notes on Document B: Black Codes, laws were placed that, “No black person shall be allowed to go within the limits of the town of Opelousas without permission from his employers”, “No black person is allowed to be able to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances” and “Black People aren't allowed to hold public meetings within the limits of the town Opelousas -- unless they get permission of the mayor/president of the board of police” (Document B: Black Codes [History Notebook]). Even though amendments were placed they weren’t necessarily protected or enforced, as many Southerners created laws that worked against these amendments. For instance there was still segregation in schools, public transportation, voting rights, and property rights.

Black Codes The Black Codes were a set of rules and regulations adopted by the southern states that restricted the freedoms of the newly emancipated African Americans during the Reconstruction Era. African Americans faced such an injustice that even though they were free individuals, they were forced to abide these new laws, and ultimately, these laws made them free to continue the laboring work that they had been doing. Although their legal status may have changed, African Americans were still facing constant struggles of that when they were slaves.

What were ways people faced discrimination, how did they deal with it? The Reconstruction Acts of 1867, gave former male slaves the right to vote and hold public office. The Congress also passed two more amendments to the Constitution: The Reconstruction Amendments; the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth. The Thirteenth Amendment was admitted before Reconstruction and abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment gave U.S. citizenship to all people born in the U.S and the Fifteenth Amendment gave black people the right to vote.

Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).

The Jim Crow Laws were brought up to Congress in February 22, 1908. Crow Laws were trying to make spate cars and spate the two classes. The Jim Crow laws were also trying to grant “Colored people the right to vote”. The Jim Crow Laws were made fun of by the Jury and got denied brutally. This Article really put me in prospective of how poorly the African American people were treated back in the day.

“More African Americans are under the control of the criminal justice system today – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved in 1850.” For this reason I decided to write my essay reflecting the documentary of Slavery By Another Name. Even though the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it had an exception. Slavery was still legal as a form of punishment for a crime. With the abolishment of slavery many jobs were left unfilled.

Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.

Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help. New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S..

The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

Have you ever imagined what it was like for an African American person back in the 1800’s when they were considered “free”? Back then, black people were used as slaves, and they didn’t gain their absolute freedom from slavery until 1865 when it was completely abolished. They gave Africans certain rights that weren’t completely fair. It really makes you question whether black people were really free in that time. When all blacks were released from slavery, what rights did they really have?

Pertaining to the rights of African Americans a new south did not appear after the reconstruction. While they were “free” they were often treated harshly and kept in a version of economic slavery by either their former masters or other white people in power. Sharecropping and the crop-lien system often had a negative impact on both the black and white tenants keeping them in debt with the owner. Jim Crow laws, vigilantes and various means of disfranchisement became the normal way of life in the South. It was believed that white people were superior to black people and when they moved up in politics or socially they were harassed and threatened.

One aspect of this was a Literacy Test. A test was administered before you could vote to determine if you could read well enough before you voted. This was discriminatory because blacks typically couldn’t read or write as well as whites could. There was also a Poll Tax, which discouraged the poor from voting. The Grandfather Clause stated that if your grandfather had voted, then you could vote as well, but at the time, every black person’s grandfather wasn’t even considered a citizen.

“All men are created equal” is probably a phrase that most Americans and people who are studying American history heard before. It can be found in the Declaration of Independence (1776), but can be also interpreted in different phrasings of the Constitution. According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary, equality is “the quality or state of being equal: the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc.”, whereas justice can be understood as “the quality of being just, impartial, or fair”. In this regard, equality means that every person has the same ‘starting position’ looking at abilities, history, and life circumstances, whereas justice gives people fair ‘starting positions’ in order to gain equality. Therefore, debates about