Freedmens' bureau (Essay Sample)

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The Freedmen’s Bureau
Towards the end of the American civil war, the senate discussed the possibility of the creation of an aid body that would support and protect the newly freed slaves. The bill proposing the creation of the bureau was adopted on 3 March 1865, after years of discussions, debates, and amendments, and modifications. The bureau, established under the war department, had the mandate to supervise and manage all land abandoned during the war, and to look into the affairs of the refugees and freedmen. The bureau played an important role in assisting the newly freedmen during their first few years of independence. It assisted them in the acquisition of education, health services, relief services, better family life, land, and labour rights. Each of the above roles played by the bureau is discussed in the following part of this essay.
The bureau provided relief services to freed slaves immediately after their emancipation. During slavery, the livelihood and survival of the slaves was dependent on the slaveholders. Slaveholders provided them with food and accommodation in return for their services in the plantations. However, after the abolition of slavery, former slaves were left with no source of livelihood, as they could not find any other employment. Many of them went hungry and homeless. The freedmen’s bureau stepped in to avert starvation by means of providing rations, which were made of flour, corn meal, and sugar, to the needy freedmen. However, this service lasted for only fifteen months as there were fears that its continuance would make the freedmen lazy such that they would avoid work.
The Freedmen’s bureau was instrumental to the education of the freedmen slaves in the south. Slaves did not receive any form of education prior to the civil war, and any person found educating them was severely punished. After they were given their freedom, former slaves faced a lot of challenges because of their illiteracy. They were not able to read and draft labour contracts, and so many employers exploited them despite the new found free system of labour. In addition, they were not able to read newspapers, the bible, and trade manuals, which increased their chances for being exploited and discriminated. There was thus need for schools to educate the freedmen. The Freedmen’s bureau worked with charity organizations such as the American Missionary Association to provide education to the former slaves. It also appropriated funds to pay the salaries of superintendents of schools and teachers, and to repair, construct, or lease school buildings. It established a network of schools for the freedmen, and improved the curriculum followed in such schools. As a result, many former slaves enrolled in schools to gain education and necessary life skills. The bureau also helped in the establishment of institutions of higher learning, such as the Fisk, Howard, and Hampton universities, whose doors were open to black people and former slaves.
Freedmen’s bureau provided former slaves with health care services. The former slaves did not have access to adequate health care. They lived in overcrowded areas that lacked basic amenities such as water, and as such, were riddled with frequent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and smallpox, which often killed many people. Freedmen were poor and so could not afford private health care. The bureau was therefore their only source of health care services. It inspected homes of freedmen for overcrowding and filth to prevent the outbreak of diseases. When outbreaks did occur, the bureau moved people to less contagious regions, and imposed quarantines to prevent any further spread of diseases. The bureau operated hospitals and dispensaries formerly used by the military during the course of the civil war. Such health facilities were used to provide basic health care to the former slaves at minimal cost or even free of charge.
The bureau played an important role in the creation of work contracts and the hiring of former slaves, which helped in the fight against exploitation. The period after independence of former slaves was characterised by stagnation of the southern plantation-dependent economy. Many former slaves were not ready to work for their former masters, while many former slave holders wanted their former slaves working for them as under the old terms of service. The bureau stepped in as an intermediary between the former slaves and their former masters. It assisted in the drafting of labour contracts that helped in the hiring of workers for the plantations. It ensured that the contracts were not oppressive to the former slaves, most of who were illiterate and could not draft the contracts themselves. The bureau made sure that labour contracts were signed by willing workers, and that oppressive labour term such capital punishment was abolished. The bureau also ensured that the contracts were upheld and not breached, as it was common for the workers to want to move from one employer to the other, while the employers felt that the contracts, especially by abolishing capital punishment, reduced the productivity of workers and so advocated against them.
The Freedmen’s bureau provided the former slaves with family services. Slavery denied family rights to the slaves. The law did not recognize slave marriages, making it hard for slaves to have and maintain families. The marriages had no legal binding obligations, and so many slaves would easily get married again, which made polygamy among the slaves appear normal. Slave holders often separated slave families by way of selling slaves. The period after emancipation of slaves was characterised by frantic efforts by the former slaves to look for their relatives, and to formalize their family unions, especially by way of legal marriages. The Freedmen’s bureau assisted the former slaves to reunite with their lost family members. Its agents investigated the whereabouts of family members, and even provided means by which families would be reunited, such as transportation services. In addition, the bureau worked to ensure that marriages between former slaves were recognised by the law and that they were legally binding. It provided the former slaves with opportunities to legalize their marriages, and ensured that they, especially men, took responsibilities over their families.
The Freedmen’s bureau provided former slaves with judicial services. Prior to the abolition of slavery, slaves had no legal rights and so always suffered from injustice. They had no judicial institutions to file their grievances, claims, and complaints. After the abolition of slavery, the freedmen’s bureau, by means of ensuri...