Freedmen's Bureau

[freed-menz byoor-oh]

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.

Example Sentences

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

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In Thomas’ concurrence, to explain why the Freedmen’s Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866 do not authorize race-conscious affirmative action programs, Thomas recasts the acts as “status-based” laws rather than race-conscious ones.

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

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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.

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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.

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