Black Codes During The Reconstruction Era

During the Reconstruction period, between 1865 and 1877, the nation had a lot of work to do. After the Civil War, their was a huge impact left on the south. All slaves in the south were set free to help the union win the war. This did not make everyone happy. They had to learn to live and support themselves on their own. On their journey to being independent, they came across many obstacles. They were considered free, however they was not really “free.” The 13th Amendment was the amendment that freed the slaves. Even though the southerners didn’t agree with this amendment. Southerners did everything in their power to keep freedmen from people able to do what a normal citizen would do. They came up with Black Codes, which are laws that prohibited african americans from being “free.” One of the black codes sections states “No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances.”

Southerners eventually let african americans work for them. However, they were sharecroppers meaning they have to borrow money to get everything going, and by the time they make their money back they are so much in debt they aren’t making any profit off of it. The landowner is getting all the money. In reality, it’s like they are still slaves, because they are doing work and not getting paid for it. Whatever money that they get goes right to the landowner for the money they had to borrow to grow the crops. In conclusion, freedmen were considered free, to a certain extent. African Americans had the same rights as a citizen, even when everyone else was against it. They got an opportunity to go back and get an education, to learn how to read and write. In the instances where they seem to not be free are when the southerners, or ones still opposing slavery, tried to take advantage of them because they knew that they had to do whatever it took to make a living down