slave codes
Enslaved persons' regulations
Slave codes were laws enacted in American colonies and states that defined the legal status of enslaved people as property and regulated nearly every aspect of their lives.
These codes restricted movement, prohibited literacy, forbade assembly without white supervision, and established brutal punishments for infractions.
They also governed the conduct of slaveholders and free people regarding enslaved persons.
The slave codes made it illegal to teach an enslaved person to read.
After emancipation, many provisions survived in Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- colonialOf occupied territories
- chattelMovable personal property
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
servitude · auction · overseer · Middle Passage · triangular trade · abolition · emancipation · Underground Railroad
Forcing into submission
- dehumanizationDenying personhood to others
- brutalitySavage, merciless behavior
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- whippingRepeated striking blows
branding · surveillance · restriction · curfew · patrol · movement · family separation · breeding
Official enactment of statutes
- statutesFormally enacted laws
- ordinancesLocal government rules
- enactmentsLaws formally passed
- provisionsStockpiled food and supplies
regulations · Jim Crow · penalties · sanctions · enforcement · patrols · passes · curfews
Doctrine of racial superiority
- segregationForced separation by group
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- hierarchyRanked authority structure
colorism · classification · mulatto · octoroon · racial purity · miscegenation · disenfranchisement · inferiority
antebellum
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- colonialOf occupied territories
- chattelMovable personal property
bondage · servitude · auction · overseer · Middle Passage · triangular trade · abolition · emancipation · Underground Railroad · Harriet Tubman
subjugation
Forcing into submission
- dehumanizationDenying personhood to others
- brutalitySavage, merciless behavior
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
whipping · branding · surveillance · restriction · curfew · patrol · movement · family separation · breeding · discipline
legislation
Official enactment of statutes
- statutesFormally enacted laws
- ordinancesLocal government rules
- enactmentsLaws formally passed
provisions · regulations · Jim Crow · penalties · sanctions · enforcement · patrols · passes · curfews · assemblies
white supremacy
Doctrine of racial superiority
- segregationForced separation by group
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
hierarchy · colorism · classification · mulatto · octoroon · racial purity · miscegenation · disenfranchisement · inferiority · caste
- slaverychattel slavery, bondage, chattel, thrall, Middle Passage
- Antebellum Americaantebellum era, Compromise of 1850, sectionalism, states' rights, Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Antebellum Southplantation, cotton kingdom, overseer, big house, plantation owner
- Caribbean historyJamaica, Haiti, Barbados, Cuba, Trinidad
- Colonial VirginiaJamestown, James River, tobacco cultivation, Powhatan, Pocahontas
- oppressionoppression, tyranny, racism, repression, secret police
slave codesBill of Rights
Initial constitutional amendments guaranteeing freedoms
slave, codes, slaves, enslave, enslaved, enslavement, enslaving, slaveholding, slaveholder