code noir and the problem of the "problem"

Dear Mr. Chesnutt,

            In your essay, "What is a White Man?," I'm not sure if you ever answer your question.  But I think this is your point.  The ambiguities that you discuss in regard to law and action in the North and the South pre -and post-Civil War complicate any preconceived notions of whiteness, or Blackness.

            Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois's question: "How does it feel to be a problem?" (1) is revealing because a problem, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution.  The solution aspect of this definition is the one I am interested in because Du Bois's question suggests that the "problem" of Blackness was brought to people's attention in order to find a solution.  For what did people feel like they had to find a solution?   Though Du Bois produces very salient explanations, particularly the idea that: "Thus Negro suffrage ended a civil war by beginning a race feud" (58) due to push by many Blacks to exercise their civil rights through voting and the attempt by Southerners to prevent this by all means possible, your inquiry into laws designating race provide examples of ways in which whites attempted to address this "problem" and how these attempts made a lasting impact on Southern race relations.

            I believe that your analysis of the different code noir and racial classification help clarify Du Bois's question because these laws give concrete examples of ways in which whites in America attempted to find ways to solve the problem of the potential for increased Black power.  Through such laws as the black codes, states were able to create distinctions between disenfranchised people that allowed only some to enjoy the rights of being white.  By creating legal designations as to who was considered white, who was considered mixed and who was considered Black, state governments found ways to increase their white populations and gain more support from people who would formerly be considered Black.  The South Carolina laws are a great example of this.  You reveal how South Carolina, a state known for its racism and one expected to have incredibly strict laws, allowed juries to decide whether a person was white or Black.  You claim this is because "the colored population of South Carolina always outnumbered the white population, and the eagerness of the latter to recruit their ranks was sufficient to overcome in some measure their prejudice against Negro blood."  In order to maintain laws that supported white supremacy, whites would need to build large enough constituencies to pass such laws.  Because of this, they had to build up a state's white population, especially taking into account that for a period Blacks were allowed to vote in the South, it makes sense that they would make their racial classification laws more flexible in order to maintain power.

            One interesting aspect of your examples is that they extend through and past the Civil War.  The Mississippi Code of 1880 stated that "the marriage of a white person to a Negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-fourth or more of Negro blood, shall be unlawful," is important not only because of its content but also because it was passed fifteen years after the end of the Civil War.  Though you discuss how all laws "establishing or permitting distinctions of color were repealed," the fact that the one-drop rule that arose in the South in the 1920s that declared that any person with one drop of African blood was considered black shows the lasting effects of such racial codes on future generations.  

Very best,
Bianca