Act to Regulate Blacks and Mulattoes (1827)

This law was a thinly veiled attempt to control the civil liberties of blacks entering and residing in Michigan. Infrequently or marginally enforced, it required its targets to register with their county of residence, provide papers of freedom and pay $500 bond to ensure their “good behavior”. In return, these residents were granted protections of the court in the case of the threat of kidnapping, but also made assisting slave to escape to freedom, illegal.

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