The Black Codes were a series of laws passed by Southern states in the United States in 1865 and 1866, immediately following the [[Civil War]]. They were designed to restrict African Americans' freedom and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished. The Black Codes were a pernicious set of laws that severely harmed African Americans and perpetuated a system of racial injustice. Despite the abolition of [[slavery]] following the Civil War and the [[13th Amendment]], Southern states sought to maintain control over the newly freed African American population. The Black Codes imposed severe economic, social, and political restrictions on African Americans. They dictated where and how they could work, limited their ability to own property, restricted their movement, and denied them equal protection under the law. ## Economic servitude by a new name Economically, many Black Codes forced African Americans into a system of sharecropping or tenant farming, which essentially replaced slavery with another form of economic servitude. African Americans who didn't enter into labor contracts, often with their former enslavers, could be arrested for vagrancy and then hired out to white landowners, creating a form of de facto slavery. Socially, the Black Codes restricted African Americans' personal [[freedom]]s. They couldn't assemble without the presence of a white person, bear arms, or serve on juries. They were even prohibited from learning to read or write in some areas. Politically, the Black Codes helped to [[disenfranchise]] African Americans. Although the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote in 1870, Southern states used strategies such as [[poll tax]]es, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to circumvent this right, effectively disenfranchising African American voters. The Black Codes led to widespread poverty and disenfranchisement among African Americans in the South. They perpetuated racial [[segregation]] and laid the groundwork for [[Jim Crow]] laws, which maintained a system of racial [[apartheid]] in the United States until the mid-20th century. The harmful impact of the Black Codes can still be felt today. They entrenched systemic racism in the social, political, and economic fabric of the United States, contributing to racial disparities that persist in areas such as education, wealth, housing, and criminal justice. They represent a dark chapter in American history and serve as a stark reminder of the country's struggle with racial equality.