Roderick Van Daniel

Unjustifiably Oppressed Roderick Van Daniel

Unjustifiably Oppressed gives the reader an inside look on the Black Codes of Mississippi (1865). Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War. Under Black codes, Mississippi required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, the risked being arrested, fined, and forced into unpaid labor through the prison system.