THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU PROJECT

Watch for stories about the Freedmen's Bureau Project of 1865

Slavery in the United States from the 1600 - 1867 was the most heinous crime committed against humanity in a country that espoused freedom. One cannot even begin to imagine the horrors that people lived under then.

Just imagine what historic gems and dialogue this will uncover. This is history that intrigues us. I guarantee that major media will report on this story throughout the rest of the year. Don't miss the coverage. I'm looking forward to seeing the actual documents.

The Freedmen's Bureau Project is shedding new light on this era -- showing how people thought and what made their actions to oppress another ok with their churches.  How can hurting another be okay?  There will be documentaries, story telling and more reports about this tremendous undertaking. Maybe we will learn about the role of the agents and how their lives were threatened in their newly assigned duty.

Some people were courageous enough to tell about their experiences as slaves shortly after their Emancipation, which was frightening to them because as newly freed, they were convinced that if they said anything that disagreed with popular opinion, that they would be netted back into the Peculiar Institution. What tremendous convincing it must have taken to assure former slaves to talk about their life under oppression. 

At the end of the Civil War the Freedmen's Bureau Project (FBP) was established in 1865 to help those freed in 15 states and Washington, DC -- again not every State freed slaves at the end of the War. And many didn't know they were free for years after the Civil War. However, this post focuses on the FBP -- which was design to help newly freed slaves with housing, medical,food, clothing and life in general during the Reconstruction of the country after the war. 

It was a very difficult assignment for the 900 agents assigned to collect information and help resettle former slaves. They received little to no assistance from former slave owners who only mocked them. Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement, conditions of labor, and other civil rights of African Americans, nearly duplicating conditions of slavery. There was no winning for former slaves. 

The agents "encouraged" plantation owners to hire and house former slaves -- that was met with laughter and indignation. Andrew Johnson, a Southerner who replaced Lincoln upon his assignation, vetoed the Bill because it offered people too much independence. The KKK was on the rise, and the FBP was closed in 1872. Imagine just how many agents were beaten.

However, the story of the FBP is becoming more important.  Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iKCXE8MaY

A new national family history effort will connect African Americans with their Civil War-era ancestors through the release of 1.5 million digitized images containing four million names from the Freedmen’s Bureau.

“For many of the freed slaves freedom was almost as perilous as bondage. They often had no job, money or shelter. They didn’t have proper training or education, and bigotry was almost ubiquitous. For some, the situation was so desperate that they were forced to continue working for their former masters — an indignity compounded by their lack of access to basic public services.” Sherri Camp, a genealogy librarian in Topeka, Kansas said in a recent editorial in the Topeka Capital Journal.

It was resurrected in 2000 when U.S. Congress passed the "Freedmen's Bureau Preservation Act," which directed the National Archivist to preserve the extensive records of the Bureau on microfilm, and work with educational institutions to index the records.

Take this opportunity to walk back in time ... good or bad, it's our history.