ARCHIVE • LOUISIANA
ON THE BAYOULOUISIANA'S
BLACK CODE
Open the law file, test your guesses, decode the language of rules, and reconnect the evidence to Marcel.
RULES
PEOPLE
CONTROLwho had power...
and who did not.
Open the next case file.
Share your ideas. What words might be connected with control?
REOPENED
Guess first. Read later.
Permission / something people could do
Prohibition / something people could not do
Find proof in the text.
THE BLACK CODE — LOUISIANA, 1724
We, the King, want all enslaved people in Louisiana to be Christians. Their owners had to make them baptized and give them Sundays off for church.
Enslaved people were allowed to get married. Owners could not separate husbands and wives, or parents and children.
They were not allowed to leave the plantation without permission.
They were not allowed to learn to read or write.
It was forbidden for enslaved people to marry a white person.
FIRST READING
Find only three things: WHEN? • WHO? • WHAT?
WHO: the King / French government
WHAT: a set of rules / a law
SECOND READING
Use the text to check the six cards from Activity 2.
FORBIDDEN: learn to read/write • leave the plantation without permission • marry a white person
Ask: “Where is it in the text?”
The law controlled many parts of people’s lives.
Decode the grammar of control.
Correct the written practice together.
Grammar compass
obligation
possibility
permission
prohibition
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Read the situation → name the meaning.Why might this law matter in our mystery?
Build a hypothesis
Why could the Black Code be important in Marcel's story?
Use ideas — not a ready-made answer.
THE PAST IS CONNECTED TO THE CASE...
We have the law. We have Marcel. We still do not know what happened in his family.
Update the file... then close it.
Case update
It controlled many aspects of the lives of enslaved people.
Owners some rules, while enslaved people certain things but many others.
The Black Code was part of a system that controlled .
CONFIDENTIAL — NEXT CASE
