diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.js
index 6bf04da4b41b6..ac1b7fb3ab8e7 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.js
@@ -819,7 +819,6 @@ function mountClassInstance(
   const instance = workInProgress.stateNode;
   instance.props = newProps;
   instance.state = workInProgress.memoizedState;
-  instance.refs = {};
 
   initializeUpdateQueue(workInProgress);
 
diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js
index e46387d8cc7dd..175c849d94710 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js
@@ -138,4 +138,28 @@ describe('ReactFiberRefs', () => {
     );
     expect(refProp).toBe('child');
   });
+
+  test('strings refs can be codemodded to callback refs', async () => {
+    let app;
+    class App extends React.Component {
+      render() {
+        app = this;
+        return (
+          <div
+            prop="Hello!"
+            ref={el => {
+              // `refs` used to be a shared frozen object unless/until a string
+              // ref attached by the reconciler, but it's not anymore so that we
+              // can codemod string refs to userspace callback refs.
+              this.refs.div = el;
+            }}
+          />
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
+    const root = ReactNoop.createRoot();
+    await act(() => root.render(<App />));
+    expect(app.refs.div.prop).toBe('Hello!');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/react/src/ReactBaseClasses.js b/packages/react/src/ReactBaseClasses.js
index 7895a97e3a1ef..8de6aab0038e0 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/ReactBaseClasses.js
+++ b/packages/react/src/ReactBaseClasses.js
@@ -8,19 +8,13 @@
 import ReactNoopUpdateQueue from './ReactNoopUpdateQueue';
 import assign from 'shared/assign';
 
-const emptyObject = {};
-if (__DEV__) {
-  Object.freeze(emptyObject);
-}
-
 /**
  * Base class helpers for the updating state of a component.
  */
 function Component(props, context, updater) {
   this.props = props;
   this.context = context;
-  // If a component has string refs, we will assign a different object later.
-  this.refs = emptyObject;
+  this.refs = {};
   // We initialize the default updater but the real one gets injected by the
   // renderer.
   this.updater = updater || ReactNoopUpdateQueue;
@@ -53,7 +47,7 @@ Component.prototype.isReactComponent = {};
  * @final
  * @protected
  */
-Component.prototype.setState = function (partialState, callback) {
+Component.prototype.setState = function(partialState, callback) {
   if (
     typeof partialState !== 'object' &&
     typeof partialState !== 'function' &&
@@ -82,7 +76,7 @@ Component.prototype.setState = function (partialState, callback) {
  * @final
  * @protected
  */
-Component.prototype.forceUpdate = function (callback) {
+Component.prototype.forceUpdate = function(callback) {
   this.updater.enqueueForceUpdate(this, callback, 'forceUpdate');
 };
 
@@ -104,9 +98,9 @@ if (__DEV__) {
         'https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/3236).',
     ],
   };
-  const defineDeprecationWarning = function (methodName, info) {
+  const defineDeprecationWarning = function(methodName, info) {
     Object.defineProperty(Component.prototype, methodName, {
-      get: function () {
+      get: function() {
         console.warn(
           '%s(...) is deprecated in plain JavaScript React classes. %s',
           info[0],
@@ -133,7 +127,7 @@ function PureComponent(props, context, updater) {
   this.props = props;
   this.context = context;
   // If a component has string refs, we will assign a different object later.
-  this.refs = emptyObject;
+  this.refs = {};
   this.updater = updater || ReactNoopUpdateQueue;
 }