AP African American Studies Flashcards: Black Codes, Land, and Labor
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Review key ideas with interactive flashcards. This set includes 21 cards to help you master important concepts.
How did one set of Black Codes disrupt African American families?
These codes allowed the state to take African American children and force them into unpaid apprenticeships without their parents’ consent.
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How did one set of Black Codes disrupt African American families?
These codes allowed the state to take African American children and force them into unpaid apprenticeships without their parents’ consent.
What was the direct consequence for African Americans when Special Field Orders No. 15 was revoked?
As a result of the revocation, African Americans who had settled on the land were evicted or forced into sharecropping contracts with the original landowners.
What were the working conditions like for those in the convict leasing system?
Prisoners in the convict leasing system worked without pay under conditions that were akin to those of slave labor.
What was Special Field Orders No. 15?
Issued by Union General William T. Sherman in 1865, it was an order that aimed to redistribute about 400,000 acres of land to newly freed African American families in 40-acre segments.
What were Black Codes?
Black Codes were restrictive laws enacted by southern state governments in 1865 and 1866 that undermined the legal rights of African Americans and controlled their movement and labor.
Define sharecropping.
Sharecropping was a labor system where landowners provided land and equipment to workers, who in exchange had to return a large share of the crops, making economic advancement very difficult.
How did the failure of land redistribution contribute to the rise of sharecropping?
When President Johnson revoked land redistribution orders, newly freed people were left without land and had to enter sharecropping contracts to survive.
What was the primary goal of the Black Codes?
The primary goal of the Black Codes was to restore the social controls and surveillance of the earlier slave codes that existed before the abolition of slavery.
Define convict leasing.
Convict leasing was a system where southern prisons profited by hiring out African American men, often imprisoned for minor charges, to landowners and corporations to work without pay.
How did Black Codes specifically restrict the economic advancement of African Americans?
Black Codes restricted advancement by limiting property ownership and forcing African Americans into annual labor contracts that provided very little pay.
A formerly enslaved person in 1866 is unable to find work and is arrested. Which law and labor system might they be forced into?
They could be arrested under a Black Code's vagrancy law and then forced into unpaid labor through the convict leasing system.
What were crop liens?
Crop liens were a system where farmers with little cash received food and supplies on credit by borrowing against their future harvest.
Who was President during the period in 1865-1866 when states enacted Black Codes?
The Black Codes were enacted during Presidential Reconstruction under President Andrew Johnson.
How did Black Codes and new labor practices together impede the economic advancement of African Americans after slavery?
Black Codes legally restricted rights like property ownership, while labor systems like sharecropping and crop liens trapped African Americans in cycles of debt and poverty.
For what types of charges were African American men often imprisoned and forced into convict leasing?
They were often imprisoned for debt, false arrest, or other minor charges, making them vulnerable to the convict leasing system.
How did the crop lien system create a cycle of debt?
The system created a cycle of debt because farmers' harvested crops often did not generate enough money to repay the debt for supplies, forcing them to borrow again for the next season.
How did convict leasing function as a new form of involuntary servitude?
It forced prisoners, often arrested on false or minor charges, to work for private corporations without pay and under conditions similar to slavery, effectively creating a new system of forced labor.
What happened to Special Field Orders No. 15?
President Andrew Johnson revoked the order, and the confiscated plantations were returned to their former owners or sold to northern investors.
Under some Black Codes, what could happen to an African American person found without a labor contract?
Those without a labor contract could be fined or imprisoned for vagrancy, and those who tried to escape a contract could be whipped.
Besides formerly enslaved people, who else participated in the sharecropping system?
Landowners also provided land and equipment to indigent whites, who then entered into sharecropping contracts.
Why was it difficult for sharecroppers to achieve economic independence?
It was difficult because they were required to return such a large share of their crops to the landowner that it left them with very little profit to get ahead.