The Freedmen's Bureau Education System

The Freedmen’s Bureau and their proposals of reform dominated the social and political landscape of the South during the Reconstruction era. The Civil War, the bloodiest battle in US history between the Union and the Confederacy over the debated issue of slavery, heightened ideological and racial tension and divide. The War destroyed original infrastructure, regional relationships, and even existing labor customs. Thus, following the victory of the Union and the eradication of slavery, there was desperate need to reform and rebuild society. The North was tasked with rebuilding southern society, with a focus on free labor. The labor system needed to be reworked and redesigned because slaves were no longer a legal option, yet labor was needed …show more content…
Despite the many accomplishments of the Freedmen’s Bureau on society and education in the south, the challenges the northerners faced hampered the equality that was hoped for. Eric Foner’s historical work, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, examines both the social context of the time period and the proposals to rebuild society. Writing on the shortcomings of the education system, he remarks, “Plagued by financial difficulties and inadequate facilities, and more successful in reaching black youngsters in towns and cities than in rural areas, Bureau schools nonetheless helped lay the foundation for Southern public education” (144). It is not disputed that there were many benefits from the education system put in place, however, the impact of the schools reached more students many years later, rather than during the Reconstruction era. Thus, the Bureau did not have an immediate beneficial impact on reaching all freed blacks students. The quality of the education, while transformative, was quite low due to a lack of resources and books. Financial difficulties forced schools to take place in less than favorable conditions, including places overrun with farm animals. One of the major goals of the Bureau was to lessen the tension that existed between whites and blacks. Written by Thomas Knox, Startling Revelations from the Department of South Carolina shed light on issues regarding the treatment of freed slaves. Knox remarked on the education system, “In the commencement of the establishment of schools in Beaufort, both colored and white children met together in the same schools; but recently they have introduced the odious Northern system of caste, by establishing separate schools for the