During the reconstruction period following the Civil War, black codes, sharecropping, and segregation became popular ways to suppress black freedoms and pay low wages. Segregation separated whites from blacks under the idea of separate but equal even though the quality was lower. Sharecropping was when people would hire others to do hard labor for a little pay and sometimes meals and a small place to live. Laborers were often in debt to those who hired them. Black codes were laws that limited blacks rights and freedoms.