Freedmen's Bureau

American  

[freed-menz byoor-oh] / ˈfrid mɛnz ˌbyʊər oʊ /

noun

U.S. History.

1. an agency of the War Department set up in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people, freed from slavery by emancipation, in obtaining relief, land, jobs, fair treatment, and education.

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Example Sentences

The Freedmen’s Bureau was created to address the specific harms of slavery and its immediate aftermath.

From Slate

When the war ended, the military’s education work became the primary function of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

From Slate

Over the course of eight years, the Freedmen’s Bureau helped establish and maintain 4,000 schools, hire over 9,000 teachers, and educate over 200,000 Black students.

From Slate

By 1867, Congress was legislating on the subject, creating a federal Department of Education to work alongside the Freedmen’s Bureau and continue its work after the bureau inevitably wound down.

From Slate

The Reconstruction Framers not only fundamentally altered the Constitution; they also created the nation’s first federal social welfare agency—the Freedmen’s Bureau—to provide access to food, medical care, and education to Black Americans freed from enslavement and refugees whose lives had been uprooted by wartime devastation.

From Slate