Freedmen's Bureau
Definition
Officially known as Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, it was established by Congress in 1865 to help former black slaves and poor whites in South after Civil War. It provided food, housing, medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance.
Analogy
Imagine if you've been living under someone else's rules all your life without any resources or knowledge about how things work outside. Suddenly you're free but don't know what next? That’s where Freedmen’s Bureau comes into picture - like a helpful guide showing you how things work when you're suddenly on your own.
Related terms
Black Codes: Laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after Civil War, designed to restrict African Americans' freedom and compel them to work under conditions similar to slavery.
Sharecropping: A system of agriculture where a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of crops produced on their portion of land. It was widely used during Reconstruction Era.
Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in Southern United States.
"Freedmen's Bureau" appears in:
Study guides (1)
Practice Questions (4)
- Which of the following best compares the goals of the Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Act of 1866?
- What differentiated the roles of the Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Act during Reconstruction?
- What was the main goal of the Freedmen's Bureau?
- Who ended the Freedmen's Bureau, an agency that provided relief to displaced Southerners after the Civil War?
Resources
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