Shortly after the Civil War's end, Southern legislatures, which were dominated by ex-Confederates during the presidential phase of Reconstruction (1864–1867), passed laws that for former slaves replaced the authority of slave owners with that of the state. Republicans labeled these laws Black Codes, although Mississippi's 1865 statute was titled An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for other purposes. All acts bestowed at least some minimal civil rights, including the rights to sue and be sued, to testify in court (but not against whites), and to marry (at least each other). In no state were freedmen permitted to vote, hold office, or serve on juries. Northerners objected that the codes also placed severe restrictions on African-American hopes of economic and political advancement.

At the end of the Civil War, a large proportion of the Southern population had been dislocated. Ex-Confederate refugees and soldiers usually had a...