If students have completed Activity 2 they may use their completed Analysis of Black Codes Handout as a starting point for this essay. If they have not yet completed Activity 2, they should begin by choosing a state and Black Code excerpt to complete the handout from the selection provided. 

After completing the handout students should do additional independent reflection and research in order to complete an essay that incorporates responses to the following questions.

• List the rights that are explicitly named in the Black Code. What limitations to these rights exist, according to the Black Code?
• In what ways does the Black Code deny or restrict rights to freedpeople?
• What kinds of assumptions – perhaps about the nature of African Americans – are built into the law? Why would this law therefore contribute to the racial discrimination, despite the emancipation of formerly enslaved people?
• How might this law have acted to constrain and control freedpeople at that time. Imagine how the law might have worked in practice. What kinds of actual, real-life circumstances might the lawmakers have been trying to address?  
• What are the implications of this law in the present day?  What are some ways you can push back or respond to these implications?