13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and effectively made it legal to enslave a person to punish them for a crime and this amendment disproportionately impacted African Americans. The Vagrancy Political Code of 1855 began targeting African Americans during post Civil War, making it illegal to be black. Vagrancy went from being a minor crime to having those convicted being sent off to do a hard time. (1.) Convict leasing programs had African Americans once again working on plantations in terrible conditions providing free labor to Southern plantation owners. Jim Crow laws prohibiting African Americans from public places deemed white enhanced their arrest.