Imagine you are wrongly convicted of a crime. You spent years in prison waiting for your release date. Eventually he arrives and when they let you out they put handcuffs on your wrists and tell you every single action you do. Simply put, this is how the black codes worked. Southerners wanted control over blacks after the Civil War, and states created their own Black Codes. After the Civil War in 1865, Southern plantation owners were left with minimal labor. They were bitter about the outcome of the war and wanted to keep African Americans under their control. Black codes were unique to the Southern states, and each state had its own variation of them. In general the codes forced freedmen to work. Any unemployed black could be arrested and charged with vagrancy. Those who worked had schedules, tasks, and types of work dictated to them. Codes were also developed to prevent blacks from succeeding. They discouraged owning and selling property and raising and selling one's own crops. Blacks were often prohibited from entering the city without written permission from a white employer. A black man found after 10pm without a ticket could be arrested. To live in a city you even needed permission from a black's employer! Section 5 of the Mississippi Black Codes states that every second January blacks must show proof of residency and employment. If they live in the city, a note from the mayor is required b...