Creation of the Bureau of Refugees,and Abandoned Lands, 1865

On March 3rd, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill to establish the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. It was a art of the War Department. It was known as the Freedmen's Bureau. It performed a number of important functions including: providing relief for displaced people, helped freedpersons acheive self-suffciency, supervised labor contracts, redistribution of abandoned lands, establishment of primary, secondary schools and HBCUs, location of famiy members and reuniting families, ad legalizing marriages. The bulk of this work was done between 1865 and 1868. The Freedmen's Bureau closed in 1872 due to Southern backlash and dwindling Congressional appropriations.

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