Final answer:
Black Codes were discriminatory laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to restrict African Americans' freedoms and maintain white supremacy, despite the formal abolition of slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War that severely limited the freedom of African Americans were known as Black Codes. These laws were a series of discriminatory state laws put in place during 1865 and 1866, with the goal to maintain the social and economic structure of racial slavery, even after its formal abolishment. The Black Codes restricted the civic participation of freed enslaved people by depriving them of the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, the right to own or carry weapons, and in some cases, even the right to rent or lease land. In essence, these codes imposed severe limitations on the newly acquired freedoms of African Americans, perpetuating systems of white supremacy and economic servitude akin to slavery.