we must distinguish different forms of exclusion.

It would be wrong to say:

“Black people were included in institutions during slavery, and then excluded after emancipation.”

They were generally excluded from equal membership in the first place.

The change was in the form and legal basis of exclusion.

Under slavery

The enslaved person was excluded from:

legal personhood as an equal citizen;

political participation;

control over labor;

ownership of themselves;

equal legal rights.

And was instead subjected to the slave system.

After emancipation

The legal basis of slavery was removed.

But other forms of exclusion could emerge or expand.

Segregation

Black and white people could be legally or socially separated in:

schools;

transportation;

public facilities;

residential spaces.

The important point is not:

“They were included before and excluded afterward.”

It is:

The form of racial exclusion changed after slavery was abolished.

Disenfranchisement

Black people were denied or obstructed from exercising political rights.

Again, this was different from slavery.

Racial violence

Violence could be used to intimidate Black communities and enforce racial subordination.

Discriminatory labor arrangements

Black workers could be legally free but placed in economic arrangements in which they possessed weaker bargaining positions.

Institutional exclusion

Black people could be denied equal access to institutions or treated as subordinate within them.