Reconstruction/Progressive Era - Page 1
A new society was created for African-Americans following the Civil
War. The U.S. government began considering plans to help those who had
been released from slavery. An organization was created in 1865 to
assist ex-slaves called the Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, and Abandoned
Lands [known hereafter as the Freedmen's Bureau]. It resembled a social
agency and was responsible for assisting refugees in obtaining
clothing, medicine, schooling, registered marriage licenses, listened to
complaints and disposed of food rations. It also established hospitals
and camps for the homeless. By 1869, the Freedmen's Bureau work would
come to end throughout the South, including Arkansas.
In Arkansas, the Union army tried to organize the
African-American labor force as early as 1864. At a camp in Helena,
contracts were drawn up for ex-slaves that would place them in 20 hours
of work with an employer who would provide just treatment, food rations,
clothing, medical care, schooling for children and wages. Military
police patrolled sections of town and countryside to make sure that the
employers were adhering to the terms of the contracts and treating the
ex-slaves fairly. This system did not work very well and it was phased
out when abuse of money and ex-slaves were suspected at all levels of
the plan.
Many African-Americans set out to farm and pursue businesses of
their own. After the Civil War small parcels of land were sold or
leased to freedmen. It was reported that this system created,
"industrious, prosperous, and loyal communities" of African-Americans in
Arkansas. This program was similar to the sharecropping of the late
1800s and could have possibly been its model.
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