Ohio Black Code

Audience

Despite the fact that few Ohioans likely read the actual text of the laws, the Black Code addressed all Ohio residents and visitors. The laws also targeted two specific audiences: First, because they were meant to deter black migration to the state, the laws addressed free black residents and migrants to Ohio. Second, they addressed Ohio’s neighbors to the south. The laws defined the procedures for African American movement across the border between slavery and freedom and thus were directed at white Kentuckians and Virginians.