Imagine the owner of a caged bird one day feeling that he is doing an injustice to the caged creature , by denying its right to fly through the air , move about freely , and to live with freedom . He decides to “free ‘ the bird , but only with stipulations . The birds ‘ freedom is given with a condition that he will tie a 300 feet long thread to the feet of the bird ,and it can enjoy its freedom by flying within a radius of 300 feet , and only fly in certain areas for a maximum of one hour per day . Black Codes were laws which were passed in certain states in America to control and restrict the civil rights and social liberties of former slaves . In both the North and South , Black Codes were regarded as deliberate expressions of whites who were determined to control the freedom of blacks , thereby recreating an illusion of freedom . This research paper examines the Black Codes of both the North and the South , and will show that they continued to keep the freed slave in slavery , and only give the them an illusion of freedom . The Negroes of America had been slaves for many centuries . The twentieth ninteenth century marks the beginning of an era which sparked an awakening of “all human beings are equal theory ‘which was to spread to other continents . In America , as this voice started getting louder and stronger , the whites were compelled , rather unwillingly , to grant that freedom to the black slaves . They granted freedom to the black slaves , by enacting laws which maintained the distinction between the white slave masters and the black slaves . Despite being legally free , the black slaves were still “not free ‘ Contrary to the popular belief , the Black Codes did not begin in 1865 . They developed over a span of half a century or more ,and date back to early nineteenth century in some northern states1 . In the early nineteenth century , the white Negrophobia called for statutory regulations and restrictions on free blacks who resided in or moved through their territory . In several cases this resulted in an outright ban on blacks from owning property , contracting , or taking up residence in certain states .Ohio Black Codes , enacted in 1804 , were some of the first Black Codes , followed by territorial legislature of Illinois , by enacting outright prohibition on black settlers within its borders2 .Article 13 of the 1851 constitution of Indiana stated that ,“no Negro or mulatto shall come into , or settle in the state after the adoption of this constitution ‘ The Illinois Black Code of 1853 , extended a complete prohibition against free black settlers within its territories3 . The thirteenth amendment of the constitution of America ,abolished slavery and the ex-slaves were now called “freedmen ‘During 1865 , every southern state passed Black Codes which restricted the freedmen , who were free but not yet citizens . The laws gave only a limited amount of second-class civil rights to freedmen4 . While each state had its own Black Codes , in general…