03/10/2026
in 1865, Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau.
This federal agency, which operated in 15 states throughout the South and the District of Columbia, provided aid to newly freed men, women, and children as they began to build new lives after enslavement. Through their interactions with the Freedmen’s Bureau, African Americans fought to secure the things they needed to live as free citizens, including land, family, education, safety, and justice.
When it ceased operations in 1872, the Freedmen’s Bureau left behind millions of pages of written records. These records documenting the various activities of the Bureau include labor contracts, land leases, marriage certificates, hospital registers, ration orders, teachers’ reports, and testimony from civil and criminal complaints. They also record the names of newly freed African Americans and offer glimpses into their struggles and aspirations to forge new lives after enslavement.
During reconstruction African Americans were recognized by the U.S. government as equal citizens. But due to white resistance, Reconstruction’s promise of racial equality was not fulfilled. Instead of full citizenship rights, African Americans experienced decades of discrimination, segregation, and terrorism.
Explore the bounty, challenges and promises of Emancipation in our museum's Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/freedmens-bureau
📸 Hermitage, Savannah, Ga., 1907. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 2016809838.
