Hi there!
The reason why Black Codes were viewed similar to slavery was because the codes were just reinforcing the superiority the slave owners had over the African Americans, making the African Americans limited in freedom. (Practically saying they had no opinion or power in the subject.) All this happened because the slave owners were afraid that the African Americans were going to rebel against them.
Hope this helps, and have a nice day! :)
(Resource HISTORY.com)
