Racism After the Civil War After the Civil War, conditions were bad for both Southern blacks and Southern whites. Four million black men and women emerged from slavery. They began to form all-black communities, freeing themselves from white control. But in 1865, Southern state legislatures began enacting sets of laws called the Black Codes. These laws authorized local officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy, and hire them to private employers to pay their fine. Some codes allowed blacks to only accept jobs as laborers or servants on plantations. The South found a way to return to slavery without breaking the new laws. In 1866, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act, which declared black people citizens of the United States, which allowed the federal government to intervene in state affairs when necessary to protect the rights of citizens. Then, in June 1866, Congress approved the 14th Amendment which stated that everyone born in the United States and everyone naturalized was automatically a citizen and entitled to equal protection from the state and national government . Even though slavery was abolished and black people were, at least by law, free and considered equal, they still did not have the same rights and opportunities as white people. In February 1869, Congress passed the 15th Amendment. The amendment attempted to secure voting rights for blacks by stipulating that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of race, color, or prior servitude. Yet this did nothing to enable southern whites to prevent blacks from voting. Since blacks were uneducated and did not own property or have the money to pay poll taxes, it was almost impossible for blacks to vote. There has been a dramatic improvement in education in the South. In 1870, reformers created 4,000 schools for former slaves. Efforts to integrate schools were a failure. All black schools were open to all races, but whites chose to stay away. Most black people did not own land. In 1865, the Freedman's Bureau distributed abandoned plantation land to 10,000 black families, but when the original white owners returned, they wanted their land back and most of it was returned. Even though blacks worked, most of them remained in poverty. They worked shorter hours and women and children were less likely to work as they once did as slaves..