The Freedmen's Bureau During The Reconstruction Era

The Freedmen’s Bureau was a federal agency established in 1865 by the Congress and played an important role during the Reconstruction Era in the Southern part of the United States. After the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau was created to provide protection, economic assistance and ensure preservation of rights for African Americans in the United States. Although it provided prosperity and new rights to blacks, it didn’t last long because the agency did not receive enough support and economic assistance in order to help the blacks. This research addresses the different aids newly freed southern blacks received and the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau during the Reconstruction Era.
The Freedmen’s Bureau provided freedom and multiple aids to around …show more content…
They were offered with services, direct medical assistance and they were allowed to have treatments to cure different sickness, giving them high mortality and a longer life. Although blacks were offered with medical treatments and health aid in order to improve their health conditions, they were still getting poor equipment in bad condition followed with unexperienced service. “Handicaps of inadequate funds and poorly trained personnel.” In addition of health care, they also received food, shelter, labor arrangements and clothing. Another major economic aid blacks received was free education. Before the Civil War, African Americans were only considered as slaves, because of that, they could not attend schools and have a free education. As result of the Freedman’s Bureau it was determined that blacks should receive an education in order to raise up within society and build knowledge, giving them the opportunity to learn the basics such as reading and writing. “Black school attendance surged; secondary and higher institutions for freed people multiplied.” As result, education made a huge impact in the black population, making it one of the most valuable aid they received. In addition of having free …show more content…
The Bureau provided aid to blacks and whites that lost the majority of their belongings during the American Civil War, and gave them shelter followed with protection from any opposers that did not agree with the results of the agency such as the Ku Klux Klan and South slave holders. Although it provided African Americans freedom and citizenship, they were still treated different and separated from the white population. As result of a large number of white opposition and lack of assistance, the Bureau had come to its end in 1872 and stopped giving blacks protection, with the exception of education. Even though the Freedmen’s Bureau didn’t last for a long period of time, the role it played during the Reconstruction Era in the United States was providing aid and protection to African Americans changing their