Black Code

American  

[blak kohd] / ˈblæk ˈkoʊd /

noun

U.S. History.

1. (in the ex-Confederate states) any code of law that defined and especially limited the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans in the period immediately following the Civil War.

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Etymology

Origin of Black Code

First recorded in 1745–50

Example Sentences

MISSISSIPPI, black code of, 146; distinctions in against blacks, 191; numbers of whites and negroes in, 334.

From History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States by Barnes, William Horatio

The rights of all of the elements of the black population at law are mentioned so as to give the reader an idea of the black code as enforced in that island.

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 by Various

The black code, of course, was abrogated after the Civil War.

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 by Various