Transcript and sources
This is… the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands or most known as the Freedmen’s Bureau.
On March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.
After the civil war many african americans needed help transitioning from being a slave to being emancipated.
The Freedmen’s Bureau helped African Americans and others receive resources such as education, marriage licenses, employment, medical and food aid. It was organized into districts covering the 11 former rebel states and had 900 agents at its peak.
Education
During slavery the majority of African Americans could not receive much if any education.
The Freedmen’s Bureau opened over 1,000 black schools and over $400,000 was spent to establish teacher-training institutions.
The Bureau helped fund…
Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University established in 1865 in Atlanta, GA;
Howard University established March 2, 1867 in Washington, D.C.
Originally Fisk School, Fisk University established January 9, 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee
Hampton University established April 1, 1868 in Hampton, Virginia were helped found by the bureau.
Marriage
Beginning in 1866, the bureau helped with securing equal justice in southern states by helping legitimize slave marriages and preside over freedmen marriage ceremonies in areas where black marriages were ILLEGAL.
Hospitals were built to help prevent and contain outbreaks. Many African-Americans were not allowed or not given adequate care at white hospitals. The Freedman Bureau served over half million suffering freedmen.
Land and employment
The U.S. Army took control of a good deal of land that was confiscated or abandoned by the Confederacy. General Sherman advocated to give African Americans 50 acres and a mule which would have made many African Americans self-sufficient and able to provide protection to their freed slaves but this didn’t happen. In the summer of 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued special pardons restoring the property to many Confederates.
Bank
The Bureau established one of the first multi-state banks in the nation, The Freedmen’s Bank. African-Americans could save their earnings which could only be deposited “by or on behalf of persons held in slavery in the United States, or their descendants. There were 37 branches in seventeen states and the district of columbia which was mostly run by african Americans.
The bureau provided food and housing gave out over 22 million rations
White southerners tried their best to stop African-Americans from progressing. The black codes were passed in many states to restrict African Americans’ freedom.
On February 19, 1866 PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON HAS THE TASK TO EXTEND THE Freedmens Bureau BILL OR VETO.
He Vetoed it ….TWICE!
The veto was overturned by congress extending the Freedmen’s Bureau for two more years.
Unfortunately, majority of the Freedmen’s Bureau’s work was discontinued on July 1, 1869.
THE BLK SPARROW 