Read the key question at the top of the attached Handout A: "In what ways did the legal status of African Americans change after emancipation and the Reconstruction Amendments, and in what ways did their experience remain the same as under the institution of slavery?" Read Document 1: Virginia Slave Codes: “An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves,” 1705; and Document 2: Runaway Slave Ad, 1860, in Handout A. In these readings identify the legal and personal status of African Americans under the institution of slavery. The first document will define the scope of that legal status by examining the first laws passed to define them.
Examine the remaining documents in Handout A to evaluate changes and continuities in the nature of the legal and practical status of African Americans. Read the documents and answer the questions to interpret their main ideas.
Outline a response to the following prompt: In what ways did the legal status of African Americans change after emancipation and the Reconstruction Amendments, and in what ways did their experience remain the same as under the institution of slavery?
The essay must make specific citations to the texts to support each claim made in the essay. (All policies in the assignment and exam explanation page apply)