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The free blacks during the slavery were called indentured slaves. They were the ones that were owned by the plantation owners, but they were also paid for the work that they had done on the plantation. When they served their time as a slave which was usually up to not exceeding three years they were freed and told that they could leave. Some of them stayed on and some left the plantations.
In most cases, they did whatever they had been doing as slaves, with two differences: 1) If they didn't like the work, or the employer, they could leave and go somewhere else, and: 2) They got paid for what they were doing.
Many former slaves left their old plantations after the Civil War so they could experience freedom that the war brought to them. They wanted to know what it was like to go wherever they wanted, without having to get permission from an owner.
In the south there were no "free" slaves. Only the northern states had free blacks living. The slaves in the south had to have passes to leave the plantation and anyone who was black was a slave. If they were stopped by a white southerner they could be questioned, beaten, killed, and taken back to their owners. Those who escaped to the north had to be careful because the "free slave act" stated that any slave that was out could be considered a runaway slave. The slave catchers would go north and kidnap free blacks, chain them, and take them south as escaped slaves. One of the most famous cases of this was Northrup a free man who was taken against his will and it took him 25 years before he was able to return home. The slave catchers didn't care because they were paid for each black they returned south and as far as they were concerned there were no free blacks north or south.
Slave codes are strict rules of governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved Africans. Some codes did not allow slaves to leave the plantation without written permissions from the master. Some made it illegal to teach enslaved people to be literate (to read or write). Email me with questions! krhayner1101@gmail.com