“… If any freedman, free negro, or mulatto shall fail or refuse to pay any tax levied according to the provisions of the sixth section of this act, it shall be prima facie evidence of vagrancy, and it shall be the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freedman, free negro, or mulatto or such person refusing or neglecting to pay such tax, and proceed at once to hire for the shortest time such delinquent taxpayer to any one who will pay the said tax, with accruing costs, giving preference to the employer, if there be one.”
The Civil War gave the end of the slavery. It might seem blacks get freedom; however, southern whites who have white supremacy for a long time did not accept freedom of blacks or regard blacks as who have same right of whites. Therefore, they made “Black Codes” to control blacks. In other words, they made another name of slavery using word of black rather than using word of slavery. One of the black codes is about “vagrant law” which only applies for blacks. This law represents what kinds of behaviors can be a vagrant. Even if, blacks who do not have lawful employment have to be fined and if they do not pay such fine or tax, they immediately hired to employer by the sheriff. Worse than all, blacks easily can be a vagrant because they hard to getting their own property, jobs and low wages.