Louisiana Black Codes Mandate Labor Contracts and Restrict Movement

Louisiana's Black Codes required all Black agricultural workers to sign annual labor contracts by January 10 of each year. Workers who left before the contract expired forfeited all wages earned. Workers had to obey all orders from the employer, could not leave the plantation without permission, and were forbidden from entertaining visitors. Employers could deduct wages for 'insolence,' 'disobedience,' or perceived idleness. The codes were designed to keep freedpeople bound to plantations under coercive conditions.