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Editorial on The Freedmen's Bureau

While many Freedmen's Officials worked hard to represent the best interests of the Freedmen, not every official did so. The New Orleans Tribune notes below that Freedmen could not always count on the Bureau for assistance.

The laborer on the plantations is, to a very great extent, in the clutches of his employer. If he goes to the Bureau's agent, he finds there an officer who rides with his employer, who dines with him and who drinks champagne with him. He is not likely to receive impartial justice at the hands of such a prejudiced officer. Most of the agents think their particular business is to furnish the planters with cheap hands and to retain at any cost the laborers on the plantations. They are in fact the planter's guards.

It is therefore perfectly useless for the poor laborer to look at the Freedmen's Bureau for relief. He knows in advance that the Bureau will send him back to his unjust or exacting employer. He will not be assisted to get his pay or to get redress but will be told to go back to his master and do his work.

Source: The New Orleans Tribune, October 31, 1867

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen
and Abandoned Lands
DuBois' History of the Bureau
Freedmen's Bureau, VA
Freedmen's Bureau
Harper's Weekly
New Orleans Tribune

History 122
Reconstruction
HIST 122 Syllabus

End of Page.

Editorial on The Freedmen's Bureau
While many Freedmen's Officials worked hard to represent the best interests of the Freedmen, not every official did so. The New Orleans Tribune notes below that Freedmen could not always count on the Bureau for assistance. The laborer on the plantations is, to a very great extent, in the clutches of his employer. If he goes to the Bureau's agent, he finds there an officer who rides with his employer, who dines with him and who drinks champagne with him. He is not likely to receive impartial justice at the hands of such a prejudiced officer. Most of the agents think their particular business is to furnish the planters with cheap hands and to retain at any cost the laborers on the plantations. They are in fact the planter's guards. It is therefore perfectly useless for the poor laborer to look at the Freedmen's Bureau for relief. He knows in advance that the Bureau will send him back to his unjust or exacting employer. He will not be assisted to get his pay or to get redress but will be told to go back to his master and do his work. Source: The New Orleans Tribune, October 31, 1867
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands DuBois' History of the Bureau Freedmen's Bureau, VA Freedmen's Bureau Harper's Weekly New Orleans Tribune History 122 Reconstruction HIST 122 Syllabus End of Page.