The Code Noir was implemented in 1724 in French colonial Louisiana. It regulated the lives of enslaved and free people, and prohibited and made it illegal for enslaved Africans to practice their traditional religions. Article III in the Code Noir states: "We forbid any public exercise of any religion other than Catholic."
The Code Noir and other slave laws resulted in enslaved and free African Americans to conduct their spiritual practices in secluded areas such as woods (hush harbors), churches, and other places. Slaves created methods to decrease their noise when they practiced their spirituality. In a slave narrative from Arkansas, slaves prayed under pots to decrease their noise to prevent nearby whites from hearing them have church.
A former slave in Arkansas named John Hunter said the slaves went to a secret house only they knew and turn the iron pots face up and their slaveholder could not hear them. Slaves also placed sticks under wash pots about a foot from the ground to decrease their noise as the sound they made during their rituals went into the pots
