“...All contracts for labor made with freedmen,free Negroes and mulattoes for a longer period than one month shall be in writing ,and in duplicate,attested and read to said freedman,free negro,or mulatto by a beat,city or county officer,or two disinterested white persons of the county in which the labor is to be performed,of which each party shall have one;and said contracts shall be taken and held as entire contracts, and if the laborer shall quit service of the employer before the expiration of his term of service,without good cause,he shall forfeit his wages for that wages for that year up to the time of quitting.”
After the salves got freedom ,during the reconstruction they came across onslaught of obstacles and injustices .First of all ,the Black Codes were laws that had a major purpose to restrict the Black people’s freedom and demand them to work on low wages. This quote present one of the strict limitations on freed slaves .Mississippi’s law demands from blacks to have written evidence of employment for the coming year each January;moreover when they decided to give up before the end of the contract, they could be forced to lose earlier wages and be arrested.The laws also put a special tax on blacks between ages 18 and 60. If they did not pay it ,they could be arrested for vagrancy.I have to point out that The Mississippi Black Codes provided for black people rights such as : sue and be sue,obtain personal property,legally married.