Compromising with the South: Black Labor during Reconstruction

Greetings, this week we will continue exploring race relations and black labor during Florida's reconstruction period, the use of convict labor in southern states, and segregation. 

The attitudes of Southerners would be a determining factor in a successful relationship between white men and freedmen (Day 2004, 3). Ultimately, the end of slavery caused numerous problems both for former confederates, as well as freedmen and abolitionists. Initially, the maintenance of status was of key importance to race relations in Florida: the dominant class did not want to relinquish control over resources, of which one was slavery (Ibid, 8). 


In Florida, white businesses and landowners sought to maintain the pre-War status quo and were the dominant enactors of legislation. Dr. Christopher Day describes this as the "Holy Trinity" of race relations: political control, labor [and] property control, and violence (Ibid, 9). 

The legalization of race relations may have been a result of fear-based perceptions. Giving any sort of political power to freedmen was seen as being accepting of "Negro rule" (Ibid, 11). 


Florida delegates in 1865 hosted a Constitutional Convention which was made up primarily of plantation and slave owners. Some delegates, such as A.J. Peeler, were more concerned with increasing plantation productivity rather than securing the rights of freedmen (Ibid, 13). The General Assembly of 1865 enacted laws restricting the freedoms of former slaves. 

"Freedmen could not carry arms, testify in court against whites, or even chose to be unemployed or look for another job without fear of arrest" (Ibid, 14) see Vagrancy Motifs in previous blogs*

These laws were a product of false race perceptions which ascribed to freedmen innate criminality and biological inferiority. In Florida, Black Codes and their punishments were created with race specifically in mind (Ibid, 15). 

Suddenly, the Black Codes sought to preserve White power in the state. Democrats tried to spin the emancipation of blacks by narrowly viewing them as freed slaves versus free people of the United States of America. Lasting political control, ownership of local land and resources, and community violence against blacks all contributed to the rise of Jim Crow-era lynchings and social segregation.

Sources cited:

Day, Christopher. "Competition for Freedom: Black Labor during Reconstruction Florida." Ph.D. dissertation. Florida State University Libraries, 2004.

Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of Florida at the 2nd Session of the 14th General Assembly. (Office of the Floridian: Printed by Dyke and Sparhawk, 1866).


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