Black Code of Mississippi

( 1865 ) Commentary by Bradley G. Bond, University of San Diego

“Every freedman, free negro and mulatto shall, on the second Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and annually thereafter, have a lawful home or employment, and shall have written evidence thereof.” - An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for Other Purposes
“All rouges and vagabonds, idle and dissipated persons, beggars, jugglers, or persons practicing unlawful games or plays, runaways, common drunkards, common night-walkers, pilferers, lewd, wanton, or lascivious persons, in speech or behavior, common railers and brawlers, persons who neglect their calling or employment, misspend what they earn, or do not provide for the support of themselves or their families, or dependents, and all other idle and disorderly persons, including all who neglect all lawful business, habitually misspend their time by frequenting houses of ill-fame, gaming-houses, or tippling shops, shall be deemed and considered vagrants.” - An Act to Amend the Vagrant Laws of the State

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (Library of Congress)

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