While initially the direct aid of the bureau was limited, it provided an essential role in organizing and coordinating these organizations in their efforts. These new resources were used to great success as enrollments at bureau-financed schools grew quickly, new schools were constructed in a variety of areas, and the quality and curriculum of the schools was significantly improved. In retrospect this was a Herculean task for the federal government to accomplish.
In a region where it was illegal to teach blacks how to read or write just a few years prior, the bureau was able to help establish nearly 1, day schools educating over , blacks at a time. The number of bureau-aided day and night schools in operation grew to a maximum of 1, in March , employing 2, teachers, and instructing , pupils.
In addition, 1, Sabbath schools were aided by the bureau that employed 4, teachers and instructed 85, pupils. Matching the Integrated Public Use Sample of the Census and a constructed data set on bureau school location, one can examine the reach and prevalence of bureau-aided schools.
The data reveals that This shows the bureau was quite effective in reaching a large segment of the black population — as nearly two thirds of blacks living in the states of the ex-Confederacy had at least some minimal exposure to these schools. While the schools were widespread, it appears their concentration was somewhat low.
For individuals living in a county with at least one bureau-aided school, the concentration of bureau-aided schools was 0. Although the concentration of schools was somewhat low it appears they had a large impact on the educational outcomes of southern blacks.
Ten to fifteen year olds living in a county with at least one bureau-aided school had literacy rates that were 6. This appears to have been driven by the bureau increasing access to formal education for black children in these counties as school attendance rates were 7. Only eleven days after signing the bureau into existence, Abraham Lincoln was struck down by John Wilkes Booth. President Lincoln and Congress had championed vastly different policies for Reconstruction. Oppositely, Republicans in Congress led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens felt the Confederate states had actually seceded and relinquished their constitutional rights.
The Republicans in Congress advocated strict conditions for re-entry into the Union and programs aimed at reshaping society. The ascension of Johnson to the presidency gave hope to Congress that they would have an ally in the White House in terms of Reconstruction philosophy.
While this action raised hopes in Congress they would be able to work with the new administration, Johnson quickly switched course. On May 29, , Johnson issued a proclamation that conferred amnesty, pardon, and the restoration of property rights for almost all Confederate soldiers who took an oath pledging loyalty to the Union.
Johnson later came out in support of the black codes of the South, which tried to bring blacks back to a position of near slavery and argued that the Confederate states should be accepted back into the Union without the condition of ratifying and adopting the Fourteenth Amendment in their state constitutions.
The original bill signed by Lincoln established the bureau during and for a period of one year after the Civil War. The language of the bill was somewhat ambiguous, and with the surrender of Confederate forces military conflict had ceased. This led people to debate when the bureau would be discontinued. While Congress started work on a new bill, President Johnson tried to gain support for the view that the need for the bureau had come to an end.
Ulysses S. Grant was called upon by the President to make a whirlwind tour of the South, and report on the present situation. The route set up was exceptionally brief and skewed to those areas best under control. In contrast, Carl Schurz made a long tour of the South only a few months after Grant and found the freedmen in a much different situation.
In many areas the bureau was viewed as the only restraint to the most insidious of treatment of blacks. Gilmore stated in the report,. While the first bill was adequate in many ways, it was rather weak in a few areas. General Howard and many of his officers reported on the great need for the bureau and pushed for its existence indefinitely or at least until the freedmen were in a less vulnerable position.
After listening to the reports and the recommendations of General Howard, a new bill was crafted by Senator Lyman Trumbull, a moderate Republican. The new bill proposed the bureau should remain in existence until abolished by law, provide more explicit aid to education and land to the freedmen, and protect the civil rights of blacks. The bill passed in both the Senate and House and was sent to Andrew Johnson, who promptly vetoed the measure.
President Johnson had been consulted prior to its passage and assured General Howard and Senator Trumbull that he would support the bill. Even after this watering down of the bill, it was once again vetoed. The veto of the bill and the subsequent override officially established a policy of open hostility between the legislative and executive branch. Prior to the Johnson administration, overriding a veto was extremely rare — as it had only occurred six times up until this time.
While work in the educational division picked up after the passage of the second bill, many of the other activities of the bureau were winding down. On July 25, a bill was signed into law requiring the withdrawal of most bureau officers from the states, and to stop the functions of the bureau except those that were related to education and claims. Although the educational activities of the bureau were to continue for an indefinite period of time, most state superintendent of education offices had closed by the middle of On November 30, Rev.
Alvord resigned his post as General Superintendent of Education. Finally due to lack of appropriations the activities of the bureau ceased in March The expiration of the bureau was somewhat anti-climatic. A number of representatives wanted to establish a permanent bureau or organization for blacks, so that they could regulate their relations with the national and state governments.
There was also talk of moving many of its functions into other parts of the government. For grades Approximate time needed is 50 minutes. Upon being freed, the formerly enslaved persons faced many challenges. As a warm-up activity, ask students to consider the following questions: What did these people need once slavery ended? What did they want after being freed?
What resources did they have to meet needs and wants? Which of their needs and wants were tangible? Which were intangible? Encourage students to think about their responses to these questions throughout this activity. Open the activity and choose one of the documents. Ask them to share their thoughts. Demonstrate how the scale works. Explain to students that they will place the photograph and textual documents on the scale based on their careful document analysis.
Following completion of the activity, conduct a class discussion based on the questions found on the final screen or ask students to reflect on these in small groups or in writing. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
The Civil Rights Act of , which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.
First proposed by The 15th Amendment, which sought to protect the voting rights of African American men after the Civil War, was adopted into the U. Constitution in Despite the amendment, by the late s discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the s and s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States.
Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War.
Though the Union victory had given some 4 million enslaved people their freedom, the The 13th Amendment to the U. Constitution, ratified in in the aftermath of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway enslaved people within the territory of the United States.
Enacted by Congress in , the first Fugitive Slave Act authorized local governments to seize and return escapees Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War. After that conflict and the Emancipation Reconstruction , the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States.
0コメント