Freedmen's Bureau

Definition

Officially known as Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, it was established by Congress in 1865 to help former black slaves and poor whites in South after Civil War. It provided food, housing, medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance.

Related terms

Black Codes: Laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after Civil War, designed to restrict African Americans' freedom and compel them to work under conditions similar to slavery.

Sharecropping: A system of agriculture where a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of crops produced on their portion of land. It was widely used during Reconstruction Era.

Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in Southern United States.