“Discriminatory economic relationships” after slavery

under slavery the relationship was not an ordinary economic relationship between two legally free contracting parties.

The enslaved person was legally subordinated to the owner.

After emancipation, the relationship could become:

employer and legally free worker

rather than:

slaveholder and enslaved person.

But the new relationship could still be economically unequal.

For example:

landowner who possesses land and capital

formerly enslaved worker who possesses labor but little property

They are now legally free to contract.

But they do not necessarily have equal bargaining power.

That is the precise transition you are interested in:

status relationship of slavery is the legally free labor relationship

while:

economic inequality that remains.

That is a very important distinction.