Shortly after the Civil War, on November 24, 1865, Mississippi became the first former Confederate state to pass the so-called Black Codes. These laws severely restricted the rights and freedoms of newly emancipated African Americans. The codes:

• Barred Black people from serving on juries

• Prohibited them from testifying against white people in court

• Forbade Black ownership or possession of firearms

• Banned Black children from attending schools with white children

These codes were designed to maintain white supremacy and control over Black labor, effectively continuing the oppression of slavery under a different name. They sparked outrage in the North and were a major factor that led to Radical Reconstruction and the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments.