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Freedmen's Bureau

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The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of the government of the United States that was formed to aid distressed refugees of the United States Civil War, including former slaves and poor white farmers. The Bureau also controlled confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, some border states, the District of Columbia and Indian Territory. The Bureau was established on March 3, 1865 by the United States Congress and administered by the United States Department of War, and headed by Union general Oliver O. Howard.

Its main purpose was to help the newly-freed former slaves acquire a rudimentary education and an opportunity to learn job skills outside manual labor. Most importantly, it provided a base for political mobilization, which opponents strongly resented. It was one of the least popular of all Reconstruction measures and was one of the first to be abolished.

Howard's loose interpretation of the legislation creating the Bureau allowed it to help blacks in many creative ways. However, the Freedmen's Bureau did come in for much criticism in the South. Many accused it of agitating Blacks against the former ruling white classes of the South. This led to anti-white violence where none had existed before. Bureau agents sometimes falsely promised Blacks that the plantation lands of their former owners would be divided up and given to them, if they voted Republican.

The Freedmen's Bureau was fully operational only from June 1865 through December 1868 and was disbanded in 1872.

Achievements

Education

The most widely recognized among the achievements of the Freedmen’s Bureau are its accomplishments in the field of education. The Bureau spent five million dollars to set up schools for blacks. By the end of 1865, more than 90,000 former slaves were enrolled as students in public schools. Even more amazingly, attendance rates at the new schools for freedmen were between 79 and 82 percent (by contrast, attendance at New York State white schools averaged 43 percent). By 1870, there were more than 1,000 schools for freedmen in the South. J. W. Alvord, an inspector for the bureau, wrote that the freedmen "have the natural thirst for knowledge," aspire to "power and influence … coupled with learning," and are excited by "the special study of books." Among the former slaves, both children and adults indulged in this new opportunity to learn. One attendee was a 105 year old man named Cupid who "feared he was almost too old to learn." However, he was soon "working diligently at the alphabet." It helped African Americans find jobs and homes.150 schools were opened in Texas.

Day-to-day duties

One of the more important, but rarely emphasized motives of the Bureau was to pursue everyday problems of the freedmen and poor whites. These problems usually had to do with various needs for clothing, food, medicine, and other such aids. The Bureau gave out 15 million rations of food to blacks. Also, the Bureau set up a system where planters could borrow rations in order to feed freedmen they employed. Though the Bureau set aside $350,000 for this service, only $35,000 was borrowed. The Bureau attempted to strengthen existing medical care facilities as well as expand services into rural areas through newly established clinics. The Bureau succeeded in giving medical care to over one million people.

Church establishment

The freedmen also sought the Bureau's aid in establishing churches. After the war, control over existing churches was a highly contentious issue; Northern Methodists seized control of Sothern Methodist buildings in some cities. In rural areas where whites and blacks had worshipped together before the war, now they mutually agreed to separate. The Bureau, with close ties to Northern Methodist and other churches, facilitated new buildings, though it did not spend any government money on churches. Northern mission societies collected of funds for land, buildings, teachers' salaries, and basic necessities such as books and furniture.

Rebuilding family structures

Under slavery, a stable and healthy family structure was very scarce. Nonetheless, a countless number of freed slaves attempted to find their relatives at the end of the war. However, success was almost impossible to achieve. The Freedmen's Bureau agents did their best to help freedmen reunite with their relatives and establish families in accordance with the regulations provided by white America. The Bureau assigned its agents to investigate leads to the possible locations of family members and spouses. On occasion, it sometimes provided transportation to reunite families. The Bureau had very little money due to the inadequate legislation that had created it. Also, it was believed the responsibility to provide such services fell upon local authorities. Freedmen and freedwomen turned to the Bureau for assistance in fixing domestic problems such as abandonment and divorce. Most cases brought before the Bureau had very little information to start the investigation with. Although its efforts were noble, the Freedmen's Bureau could do little to reverse the sociological effects of slavery and had almost no funds or staff to support successful investigations to locate loved ones.

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

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