Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/55

 CHAPTER IV

THE "BLACK LAWS" OF 1865-68

One set of race distinctions deserves to be treated by itself. They have long since become obsolete and were, during their existence, in a sense, anomalous; yet they are, perhaps, the most illuminating from a historical point of view of all the race distinctions in the law. They were the result of the statutes that were enacted by the legislatures of the Southern States between 1865 and 1868 for the definition and establishment of the status of the Negro. The War closed in 1865; the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution was ratified July 28, 1868; and the Reconstruction régime in the South was not under way till 1868 or later. Therefore, during the interval between the close of the War and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment or the beginning of active Reconstruction, the Southern States were free to adopt such measures as they saw fit to establish the relation between the races.

The legislatures faced a new problem, or rather an old problem increased many fold in perplexity. They had to establish the industrial, legal, and political status of 4,000,000 people who had recently been slaves and were now freemen. It must be remembered that when the Southern legislatures convened in 1865 their actions with regard to