Document B: Black Codes (Modified)
In the years following the Civil War, many Southern states and cities passed Black Codes. These laws laid out what freedmen were and were not allowed to do. The document below, passed July 3, 1865, is a Black Code from Opelousas, Louisiana.
SECTION 1. No negro shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employers. SECTION 3. No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances.
SECTION 4. No negro shall reside within the limits of the town of Opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner.
SECTION 5. No public meetings of negroes shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas under any circumstances without the permission of the mayor or president of the board of police. This, however, does not prevent the freedmen from attending the usual church services.
SECTION 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits of the town of Opelousas without the special permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board of police.
SECTION 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen.





Document B: Black Codes
1. When were these Black Codes written? Who wrote these laws?
2. List three things that freedmen and women were not allowed to do according to the Black Codes.
3. Why would white Southerners pass laws that controlled the movement of African Americans? What would happen if African Americans left the South in huge numbers?
4. How do these laws helps understand what life was like in Louisiana and other Southern states after the Civil War?