The end of the Civil War marked the end of slavery for 4 million black Southerners. But the war also left them landless and with little money to support themselves. White Southerners, seeking to control the freedmen or former slaves, devised special state law codes. These laws were known as The Southern “Black Codes”
To understand the Black Codes, we need to go back to the end of the Civil War. With the Confederacy defeated, and slavery abolished, millions of African Americans were suddenly free from bondage. But freedom alone was not enough to guarantee their rights and equality. The former slave-owning states in the South were determined to maintain white supremacy and prevent black Americans from gaining political, economic, and social power.
Enter the Black Codes. These state laws aimed to control and restrict the behavior of newly freed slaves. The Black Codes varied from state to state, but they shared a common purpose: to enforce a system of racial segregation and subordination. They were designed to limit the rights of black Americans, such as the right to vote, own property, testify in court, or even move freely.