What term refers to the laws that restricted the rights of enslaved African Americans before the Civil War?

The term that refers to the laws restricting the rights of enslaved African Americans before the Civil War is Slave Codes. These laws were established primarily in the South to control the population of enslaved people and maintain the institution of slavery. Slave Codes prohibited enslaved individuals from assembling in groups, owning property, learning to read or write, and they imposed severe penalties for any acts of defiance. By enforcing these codes, Southern states sought to diminish the chances of rebellion and maintain societal order predicated on the institution of slavery.

Black Codes, which were implemented after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era, aimed to limit the rights and freedoms of newly freed African Americans, but they were a product of a different historical context. Jim Crow Laws emerged later, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, establishing a system of racial segregation primarily in the South, and Segregation Laws relate specifically to the division of races in public spaces. Thus, the focus on laws governing enslaved individuals in the antebellum period makes Slave Codes the accurate term.