The Freedmen’s Bureau was formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, and was established after the end of the Civil War. Initiated by President Abraham Lincoln, Congress established the Bureau on March 3, 1865 during the Reconstruction era. The purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to assist the millions of newly freed slaves and their families. After the assassination of Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson tried to veto the bill funding the continuation of the Freedmen’s Bureau. However, he was overrode by Congress. The Freedmen’s Bureau operated from 1865 until 1872 when it was abolished.
When the Civil War ended, the government questioned what to do with the millions of formerly enslaved people. The Emancipation Proclamation was a start but did not properly address the concerns of the freed people. The former slaves needed assistance in the transition from bondage to freedom. The creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to help with the transition to self-sufficiency. In addition, their purpose was to fight for the rights and protections of the newly freed people. The Bureau issued food rations, clothing, and medicine. Also, they operated hospitals and refugee camps. They helped legalized marriages of the former enslaved. Legalization resulted in obtaining parental rights to prevent their children being under state guardianship for free labor. Furthermore, they assisted in the location and reunification of separated family members.
The Freedmen’s Bureau assumed custody of confiscated and abandoned lands or property in the former Confederate States, border states, District of Columbia, and Indian Territory. The Bureau was responsible for ensuring the education of the freed people. Schools such as Howard University and Fisk University were established. The Bureau managed disputes and complaints between the freed people and former slave owners. They helped to protect the legal rights of the freed people. In addition, they assisted Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War to obtain back pay, bounty payments, and pensions. However, the Freedmen’s Bureau could not stem the increasing violence against black people by southern whites and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
Blacks were still under attack and faced intense racism, oppression, and brutal treatment as free people. Whites continued to attack, lynch, and murder black people. In 1868, there were two violent massacres in Memphis and New Orleans. By 1869, the Freedmen’s Bureau was losing its power. The Bureau was fighting a lack of funding and lack of northern white support. Additionally, they were under pressure from southern whites which included the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The Enforcement Acts and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 did not result in the safety and equality of blacks in the United States. As a result, Congress under President Grant, abolished the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1872. With its demise, the promise of equal rights, equal standards, equal representation, due process, and equal protection of the law died with it.