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.

---

Etymology

Origin of Black Code

First recorded in 1745–50

Example Sentences

Dieudonne Boutrin, an activist from the overseas territory of Martinique who is descended from enslaved people, said annulling the Black Code should have been done ages ago.

From Barron's • May 28, 2026

Spanish law was installed, although the French Black Code was retained.

From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Bolton, Herbert Eugene

General Logan, author of the Illinois Black Code, greeted them as comrades, and Jefferson Davis finally accorded to them the rights due captured soldiers as prisoners of war.

From The Black Phalanx African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War by Wilson, Joseph T. (Joseph Thomas)