Full transcript
0:01Before the end of the Civil War in 1865 about 4 million African Americans suffered under
0:06slavery in the South.
0:08The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified on December 6, 1865, finally abolished
0:14slavery throughout the entire United States.
0:17However, freedom from slavery did not mean true freedom for African Americans.
0:23Right after the Civil War, Southern legislators passed discriminatory laws, called Black Codes.
0:30These laws prohibited African Americans from voting and serving on juries or in the state
0:35militia, among other things.
0:37Newly freed African Americans throughout the South often lived in poverty and were sometimes
0:42forced to work for former slaveholders as punishment for dubious "crimes," such as vagrancy,
0:48which echoed the system of slavery that had just been abolished.
0:52The Black Codes caused a scandal throughout the country, and soon Congress would pass
0:57the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson.
1:03This has been 60-Second Civics, a podcast of the Center for Civic Education.
1:0960-Second Civics, where civic education only takes a minute.
1:13I’m Mark Gage.