What is the Freedman?

Answer 1

On March 3, 1865, Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, which was more commonly known as the Freedmen's Bureau. It was to be in service for only one year but, on July 16, 1866, Congress extended the life of the bureau despite the veto by President Andrew Johnson. The bureau's main focus was to provide food and medical care, to help the freedmen to resettle, to ensure justice for the freedmen, to manage abandoned or confiscated property, to regulate labor, and to establish schools. In many cases, it also provided aid for destitute whites.

The bureau opened 4000 free schools, including several colleges, and educated 250,000 African Americans. By 1870, 21% of African-American population could read.

Although the bureau was successful in its educational goals, it failed in its goal to establish land for the freedmen. The bureau did, however, give 850,000 acres to the freedmen, but President Andrew Johnson revoked the land and gave it to the Confederate landowners.

Consequently, the bureau focused upon employment. It encouraged the freedmen to work on plantations, but this became problematic when the freedmen became sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

Even though there were many problems, the Freedmen's Bureau did help the newly freed African-Americans to get the rights that they had been denied. These included the right to an education, the right to due process, the right to the practice of religion, and the right to contract.