Ohio Black Code

Immediately after Ohio achieved statehood in 1802, the Ohio legislature tried to define the meaning and limitations of freedom for African Americans in the new state. Between 1803 and 1807 the legislature passed and subsequently amended a series of laws known as the Black Code. With these laws, white Ohioans legislated the second-class status of African Americans in the state. The laws foremost required immigrating African Americans to register their freedom with the county courts. In addition, the laws dictated that as residents of the state, African Americans could not vote, bear arms, testify in court, or attend public schools.

Ohio’s Black Code demonstrates the ways in which white Americans sought to limit the freedom of blacks in antebellum America. In other northern states as well, the gradual emancipation of African Americans was coupled with restrictions on black rights. While chattel slavery was never legal in Ohio, the Black Code in this nominally free state highlights the pervasiveness of racism throughout the country. Many historians point to economic factors as contributory to the antiblack sentiment that grew among white Ohioans: Jobs in early nineteenth-century Ohio were scarce, and whites opposed the prospect of competing with blacks for the limited employment opportunities available in the state. In addition, as the first state carved out of the federally governed Northwest Territory, Ohio set the precedent for other midwestern states. Indiana and Illinois similarly passed Black Codes upon moving to statehood. Over time, however, black Ohioans organized resistance to the Black Codes; the ultimate repeal of these restrictive laws highlights the power of black protest in pre–Civil War America.