Freedmen’s Bureau
The Freedmen’s Bureau was created during the Reconstruction Era to aid in the transition for former slaves to community members. It created schools, medical facilities, and aided in finding jobs and land for newly freed slaves. As reconstruction efforts faded several years after the war under both Democratic and Republican leadership, the Freedmen’s Bureau saw less success and support from the government. An article from the New Orleans Advocate in 1868 emphasizes the importance of having an agency like the Freedmen’s Bureau and calls for more government intervention to help the transition, citing increased violence from the KKK as a need for protection.
“Freedmen’s Bureau”, 1868. New Orleans Advocate, December 19th. EBSCO Newspaper Source.
This drawing from 1868 depicts the racial tension between white southerners and newly freed slaves. A Freedmen’s Bureau agent stands between them, symbolically keeping the peace. This scene portrays the atmosphere described in the newspaper article discussed above.
Link to Image: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:bsc:&rft_dat=xri:bsc:multimedia:71630933
Quest for Land
Along with the Freedmen’s Bureau, plots of land in the south were distributed to former slaves to allow them to work and earn an income. However, President Johnson, a Democrat who held a weak stance on Reconstruction, had the land given back to its original owners. This action, along with his extensive amount of pardons for southerners, began the trend of the federal government minimizing support for African Americans. Without land, newly freed slaves had no way of becoming economically independent. In this petition, several freedmen requested land under the government’s promise of protecting and ensuring equal rights after the abolishment of slavery.
“… and if government does not make some provision by which we as freedmen can obtain homestead, we have not bettered our condition…”
“We look to you… for protection and equal rights with the privilege of purchasing a homestead…”
“Petition of Committee in Behalf of the Freedmen to Andrew Johnson” Petition (1865): IN Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 576.
Racial Violence
Racial violence hit one of its most deadly points during the Reconstruction Era. The Ku Klux Klan caused newly freed slaves to live in fear of death everyday. This terrorist organization was well known by local, state, and even federal governments. A federal level report was commissioned in 1872 regarding the grasp the Ku Klux Klan had over the South in this time. One murder every day was being committed, and no KKK members were being charged. Despite such a blunt report, no laws were put in motion for the protection of black southerners, and reconstruction efforts continued to wane, including the end of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Link to Full Text: http://www.americanhistory.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/GLC08872/12?searchId=10ae376d-4536-4661-972c-8cd82817020a
This image, drawn in 1867, depicts several Klansmen preparing to lynch President Lincoln. The hatred they felt towards the abolishment is translated through this crude drawing. This kind of violence is what newly freed slaves needed protection from through government agencies.
http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:bsc:&rft_dat=xri:bsc:multimedia:1807323