The Freedmen's Bureau bills provided legislative authorization for the Freedmen's Bureau (formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands), which was set up by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 as part of the United States Army. Following the original bill in 1865, subsequent bills sought to extend its authority and lifespan. Andrew Johnson tried to derail the bill's intention to aid freed slaves during his presidency.
By 1869 Southern Democrats in Congress had deprived the Bureau of most of its funding, and as a result it had to cut much of its staff.[2][3] By 1870 the Bureau had been weakened further due to the rise of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) violence across the South; members of the KKK and other terrorist organizations, attacked both blacks and sympathetic white Republicans, including teachers.[2] Northern Democrats also opposed the Bureau's work, painting it as a program that would make African Americans "lazy".[4] In 1872, the political will to extend the Bureau's life had diminished to the point that Congress abruptly abandoned the program, refusing to approve renewal legislation.
- ^ Nast, Thomas (April 14, 1866). "Untitled caricature collage". Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Vol. X, no. 485. p. 232 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "<sc>The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow</sc>. Produced, directed, and written by Bill Jersey, Sam Pollard and Richard Wormser. 2002; color, 200 minutes. Distributed by PBS Thirteen/WNET New York". The American Historical Review. April 2003. doi:10.1086/ahr/108.2.623. ISSN 1937-5239.
- ^ deShazo, Richard D. (2018). The racial divide in American medicine: Black physicians and the struggle for justice in health care. Jackson (Miss.): University press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-1768-6.
- ^ Alexander, Leslie M.; Rucker, Walter C., eds. (2010). Encyclopedia of African American history. American ethnic experience. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-769-2.