In all of the state laws there were certain common characteristics, among
which were the following: the descendant of a Negro was to be classed as a
Negro through the third generation,* even though one parent in each generation
was white; intermarriage of the races was prohibited; existing slave marriages
were declared valid and for the future marriage was generally made easier for
the blacks than for the whites. In all states the Negro was given his day in
court, and in cases relating to Negroes his testimony was accepted; in six
states he might testify in any case. When provision was made for schooling,
the rule of race separation was enforced. In Mississippi the "Jim Crow car,"
or separate car for Negroes, was invented. In several states the Negro had to
have a license to carry weapons, to preach, or to engage in trade. In
Mississippi, a Negro could own land only in town; in other states he could
purchase land only in the country. Why the difference? No one knows and
probably few knew at the time. Some of the legislation was undoubtedly hasty
and ill-considered.

* Fourth in Tennessee.


But the laws relating to apprenticeship, vagrancy, and enforced punitive
employment turned out to be of greater practical importance. On these subjects
the legislation of Mississippi and South Carolina was the most extreme. In
Mississippi orphans- orphans were to be bound out, preferably to a former
master, if "he or she shall be a suitable person." The master was given the
usual control over apprentices and was bound by the usual duties, including
that of teaching the apprentice. But the penalties for "enticing away"
apprentices were severe. The South Carolina statute was not essentially
different. The vagrancy laws of these two states were in the main the same for
both races, but in Mississippi the definition of vagrancy was enlarged to
include Negroes not at work, those "found unlawfully assembling themselves