The Black Codes
By Don Valentine
If We Don’t Learn Our History, We Will Learn “His-Story” (CRT)
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the 11 southern states had to abolish slavery to be readmitted to the Union. The Black Codes implemented a mendacious, fraudulent ploy by the South to secure their goal of maintaining White superiority. The Congressional Rights Foundation describes these reprobate acts from the South as duplicitous chicanery.
The Southerners resented being ruled by Union military and the Freedmen’s Bureau officials. They sought to restore self-rule. During the summer and fall of 1865, most of the old Confederate states held constitutional conventions. They followed Mississippi’s lead to establish several codified laws to impede the ex slaves from equal/fair rights. These laws placed severe restrictions on emancipated Blacks. Ex slaves could not vote, serve on juries, travel freely, or work in occupations of their choice. Even their marriages were outside the law. If you fell in love with a White woman in the South, you might as well “Pick your favorite Tree.” You would be lynched, no quarter, no mercy!
An editorial in the Macon, Georgia, Daily Telegraph summed up the widely held opinion of the White South: “There is such a radical difference in the mental and moral [nature] of the White and Black races, that it would be impossible to secure order in a mixed community by the same law.” President Andrew Johnson vetoed Reconstruction legislation, and Congress quickly overrode his vetoes. The battles with Johnson led to his 1868 impeachment by the House. That marked the first impeachment of a president in American history.
The Republican controlled Congress held Southern states constitutional conventions in 1867. This time the Freedmen voted. New state constitutions guaranteed the right of Black adult males to vote and run for public office. For the first time, some Blacks won election to Southern state legislatures and to Congress. By 1868, most states had repealed the remains of discriminatory Black Code laws. The respite was just a transition to the detestable “Jim Crow” era.
