Black Codes were basically made to send ex-slaves back there plantations

Black Codes were basically made to send ex-slaves back there plantations. Although some new laws did give blacks there right to get married, sue and be sued, be case witnesses and the right to own guns they varied from state to state. In some states they were given a curfew, and had to be off the streets by a certain time, they weren’t allowed within city limits without authorization, they were limited in trade and legalized whipping as a way of correcting workers . In Mississippi they went as far as not selling them land except in certain towns. The worst law was the vagrants and vagrancy. People that were considered vagrants could be hired out to what later would be known as chain gangs. Also people that were accused of being vagrants were given a trial, and if they were found to in fact be deemed a vagrant then they were fined fifty dollars, if the person could not pay then they were sentenced to six months in jail, or they would be incarcerated until their fine could be paid. This law stated that people found to be vagrant could be hired out to work, instead of going to jail.
Convict leasing began in Alabama in 1846 lasting till 1928, in 1874 they made $14,000 in revenue by 1890 they made $164,000 which was an equivalent to $4.1 million dollars today. One of the biggest users of convict leasing was John T. Miller having J.W Comer as his overseer at the coal mines. He was considered a supreme racist and despotic employer, profiting off black convicts mining coal for steel to build the first railways in the south. A slave was worth more than a prisoner which could be rented for as little as $9 a month, it was 50%-80% less than mine worker. The working conditions they were given where horrible as they went through mental ; physical abuse, drinking dirty mine water, not seeing the sun for up to 3 days at a time being pushed to the limit of human endurance. 30-40% of them died a year, by 1886 there were 15,000 prisoners working. In many labor camps 1/3 where boys younger than 16. Sweeps would take place especially around harvest times, or when a labor agents where coming to get more inmates. More than 2/3 of prisoner where convicted of under vague larceny or burglary charges including Ezekial Archiy. In 1884, a series of remarkable letters was sent from the Pratt Coal Mines to Alabama’s new inspector of prisons by 25 year old convict Ezekial Archey. He was one of hundreds of convicts being worked in a growing network of mines and factories around the burgeoning city of Birmingham, Alabama.