In class this week we learned about the formation of the Freedman's Bureau. This occurred in 1866, and the purpose of the bureau was to help freedmen find jobs, reconnect their families, and send people to school. The part that I struggle to understand is that there were only 1000 employees. I mean, how productive can 1000 people be in assisting around the whole country? Especially since they were so opposed? The comic in class showed us that not only was it an unpopular decision with white people, but the president did not support the bureau either. I'm wondering how effective this particular group actually was, given these simple facts. There were thousands and thousands of slaves released by the emancipation proclamation, so the magnitude of customers demanding aid had to be overwhelming. Additionally, I do not understand how the bureau could have helped freedmen find their families. There weren't databases that they could draw from, but only documents and written proof that they may not even have access to. And to receive this aid, freedmen needed to travel to the location of the bureau, as I would assume, unless of course there were multiple offices. Even if there were additional locations, those seeking the help of the organization who had no money, no place to live, and in many cases, no family had to make their way to a convenient location to check and see if the bureau could do anything to help them. In my mind, that seems unlikely to be very helpful, and not in the least bit efficient. Overall, do you think that the Freedman's Bureau was effective, and if so, how so?
-Chavez Rodriguez
I agree with you in that the freedmen bureau could not have possibly been the most efficient way to help freedmen. However I feel that it was something, these freed slaves had a very limited skill-set unfortunately. Although the Freedmen bureau may not have been all that great, i feel that it was a very key part of the freedmens lives.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the Freedmen Bureau was likely not too effective, and I think that may also partially be due to the extent to which they were negatively received by the former slave holders and racist population. This likely made it difficult to grow as an organization, and I don't think they would have done much.
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