Prof. Garcia | ENG1101-HD57 | Fall 2022

Research Question

“Black Codes”, What are black codes? The black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the civil war. My question Who enforces the black codes laws? And how did the congress get rid of the black codes? I am interested in this topic because they do not teach it in school, and I never heard about it whiles doing some research about the African American history and I discovered the black codes laws. This research caught my interest more because while reading upon the black codes I also discovered that Black Codes restricted black people right to own property, conduct business, buy, and lease land, and move freely through public spaces. It should be spoken out more in the African American history because it is hard to understand why Black people are incarcerated at higher rates than other groups without knowing what the Black Codes were. These restrictive and discriminatory laws criminalized Black people after enslavement and set the stage for Jim Crow. They are also linked to today’s prison industrial complex. Given this, a better grasp of the Black Codes and their relationship to the 13th Amendment provides a historical context for racial profiling, police brutality, and uneven criminal sentencing. For far too long, Black people have been dogged by the stereotype that they are inherently prone to criminality. The institution of enslavement and the Black Codes that followed reveal how the state penalized Black people just for existing. Under black codes, many states required Black people to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested, fined, and forced into unpaid labor. The answers I expect in my research are the effects of the black code’s laws, learning more about their rights of the blacks, what states did they pass the black codes and did the codes limit jobs for African Americans? What year did the black code laws was passed in congress? 

2 Comments

  1. Ruth Garcia

    I think your question is –how did the Black codes affect African Americans after the civil war. You might focus on a particular state. I also wonder if the Black codes is something that has a legacy that still impacts African Americans today. I think this would be an interesting question to look up.

    • Tori Henry

      I have a particular state already and yes there is still a black code legacy that still impacts African Americans today. 

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