Freedman's Bureau was a US government agency dedicated to helping out newly freed families in the south. The Bureau was headed by Union army general Oliver O. Howard and it lasted from 1865 to 1872, which was during the reconstuction era. In 1969, the Bureau lost funding from the US government and was forced to cut staff. After this, the Bureau was not as effective.
Oliver O. Howard
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/oliver-howard.html
Freedman's Bureau encouraged urged African Americans to gain employment, pushing blacks and whites to work as employers and employees, and no longer as masters and slaves. In addition, the Bureau met the needs of blacks through distribution of clothing, water, health care and jobs, among many other things. The Bureau gave away 15 million rations of food to African Americans over time.
The Bureau is most widely recognized for its help in improving the education of black people. The Bureau spent $5 million creating public schools for blacks. The attendance rates at these schools was about 80% and by the end of 1865, 90,000 former slaves were enrolled public schools. The schools were so successful that the Bureau created their own textbook.
One of the Many Schools created because of The Freedman's Bureau
http://www.trinityhistory.org/AmH/u7maps.htm
Sharecropping and Tenant Farming
Sharecropping and Tenant farming were both ways for newly freed blacks to make money and use the skills they already had from working on plantations as slaves.
Sharecropping was a system of agriculture where the landowner would would allow the tenant land and the landowner got a portion of the crops produced in the land. The system was not as good as it seemed to be, though, because the average sharecropping plantation went into bankruptcy every twenty years. Sharecropping was very popular even long after the Civil War, during the Great Depression. In the early 1930's, there were around 5.5 million white sharecroppers and 3 million black sharecroppers in the United States.
Sharecropping in the 1930's
http://2009greatdepression.wikispaces.com/Sharecroppers+in+the+1930s
In my opinion, tenant farming is a much better option than sharecropping. Tenant farming is where a tenant pays rent on the land and can keep all the crops produced.
Other Reconstruction Plans
After Abraham Lincoln was murdered, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president. Lincoln had big plans for reconstruction, but Johnson did not carry them out. There was a group of people in Congress around the same time Johnson was called the "Radical Republicans." This party believed that confederate soldiers should be punished and that blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites. The radical republicans worked to continue on with the Freedman's Bureau, but President Johnson vetoed it. The also tried to pass a civil rights bill that was also vetoed by Johnson. After Johnson vetoed this, many moderate republicans became radical republicans and later this group introduced the Reconstruction Act of 1867.
This act removed the right to vote and seek office by "leading rebels". It also divided the south into five military districts. Each district held commanders who could employ the army as well as protect black citizens and their property.
After Abraham Lincoln was murdered, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president. Lincoln had big plans for reconstruction, but Johnson did not carry them out. There was a group of people in Congress around the same time Johnson was called the "Radical Republicans." This party believed that confederate soldiers should be punished and that blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites. The radical republicans worked to continue on with the Freedman's Bureau, but President Johnson vetoed it. The also tried to pass a civil rights bill that was also vetoed by Johnson. After Johnson vetoed this, many moderate republicans became radical republicans and later this group introduced the Reconstruction Act of 1867.
This act removed the right to vote and seek office by "leading rebels". It also divided the south into five military districts. Each district held commanders who could employ the army as well as protect black citizens and their property.
Map of the Military Districts
http://unitedstateshistorylsa.wikispaces.com/The+Radical+Reconstruction+Plan
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