Final answer:
The black codes were laws that explicitly regulated the civil rights of African Americans, limiting their liberties and controlling their labor in a manner reminiscent of slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The black codes explicitly regulated the civil rights of African Americans. These codes were a series of laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War with the intent to restrict freed African Americans' liberties and to control their behavior and labor in a system similar to slavery. While black codes granted certain rights like the right to own property, marry, and make contracts, they severely limited other fundamental rights, prohibiting black men from serving on juries or in state militias, refusing to recognize black testimony against white people, and subjecting them to severe vagrancy laws that controlled their movement and employment.