Mother home schools her children in Transylvania, Louisiana, 1937.

Slave Codes enacted in the 1600’s and Black Code Laws enacted initially around the 1865 in America, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation, Jim Crow Laws,and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments
played a role in the disenfranchisement of Black and equal access to education. These codes would vary from state to state but were united in the common purpose of denying the civil rights of Blacks. Jim Crow Laws would allow for the disenfranchisement of Blacks in every aspect of life. The value of an education was recognized by Blacks as far back as slavery with life threatening efforts taken by Black people in taking it upon themselves to educate their own in secret schools, churches, and in rare moments a sympathetic slave master or a member of his staff.