history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. 1872, the warnd department's bureau of refugees, or the freedmen's bureau provided help to slaves. next on american history tv, emmanuel dabney discusses the archival records of the freedmen's bureau and what they can tell us about the lives of former slaves. he describes how the bureau issued food and clothing,

operated in hospitals and temporary camps, helped locate lost family members and provide education and legal services. this talk is hosted by the emerging civil war blog. >> to wrap up our sequence of mourning speakers, it is my privilege to welcome back emmanuel dabney. he comes to us from south of the james. this i-95 traffic many of you enjoyed experiencing, he also has had a joy to experience it today. i think he is eager to go back. petersburg was home to him. the story very closely connected to his own personal story through his ancestry. he began volunteering, where he became seasonal work for a number of years and became a permanent historian. he has been there 14 years sharing a story that is

largely over forgotten, that if armies are in one spot there longer than anyone else, and the stories by the people affected by the presence of those armies has gone untold. emmanuel has brought that story to the forefront. he is here today to talk about one of the enduring legacies of the war, that is the freedmen's bureau. the great question was what is going to happen with all these emancipated slaves? the freedmen's bureau was an attempt to answer that. it was a very complicated answer. emmanuel dabney, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] emmanuel: i'm not sure how people deal with this traffic on the north side of richmond. it seems like whenever you leave richmond you need to plan a year for what normally takes 10 minutes to get to. i am certainly happy i made it.

i was worried i would not get here. and i'm looking forward to our question and answer period to tackle the subject of the freedmen's bureau. and abandon land headquartered in petersburg, virginia issued a circular, which highlights the challenges that face the bureau

in the postwar years. assistant superintendents, their respective counties, their plantations, and made themselves acquainted with the working of the new system of free labor. this was the many extravagant ideas and impressions among them as to their status as freed men. the property of their former masters is to be divided among them. if they hired themselves for another year in implied servitude for five years. or that the government will feed them in idleness. by careful advice endeavor to remove any prejudices or lack of confidence that may exist between the two classes, assure them that the government will protect them in person,

property, and all their rights and privileges, but they alone are responsible for the maintenance. urged them all to make contract for another year either for wages or a share in the crops and be prepared to ratify such contracts on the spot. explain to them that disturbed and desolated state of the country, and generally they can do better to remain on the old plantations then laundering about looking from our lucrative situations. this must be prosecuted with vigor, reporting from time to time the general condition of

the offices. the board organized under recent orders will adjudicate all cases that may arise and have the care of the office duties. the bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned land had quite a huge task if you just listen to every word that the superintendent has issued from the petersburg office. that task best summarized by a historian, the organization had to introduce the free labor system to the south, work with benevolent organizations to create an education system to the blacks, provide aid to the destitute and elderly. the court system to settle disputes between blacks and whites tried to ensure in justice for black and white unionists, serve as a marriage counselor, remediate labor contracts, and somehow win confidence between the two races. this image coming from the harpers weekly shows a single officer in the midst of all of this mob chaos from both white and black southerners. the bureau was created march 3, 1865, the same day the trust company was created to encourage former slaves to save money.

as the longer name implies the bureau was not only to deal with issues related to freedmen but white unionist refugees and any abandoned or confiscated lands. the land square to be divided into 40 acre lots and could rent them until they were sold as best as the united states could sell land. it was technically not the government's. however, during the second half of 1865, president andrew johnson restore the property of almost all former confederates. by a special order from the head of the bureau, president johnson's ideology went out and thus almost all of the 850,000 acres and the control of the

bureau in june of 1865 had been restored to their prewar owners by december of 1865. the long discussed 40 acres disappeared in a matter of six months. john wilkes booth not only killed president abraham lincoln but created an enemy of the labors bureau that appeared in the form of a man on this slide, andrew johnson. he vetoed congress's freedmen bill. this time congress did override his veto. johnson's opposition to the bill was based on his own racial prejudices.

formal leahy opposed the use of military during peace time. he felt the bill was a federal encroachment into state matters. he believed the bill would prevent former slaves from being self sufficient. he opposed the bill because he believed congress should not make decisions for states without representation in the federal congress. and that opposition over this subject and many others, as many folks know, will have him in a battle royale over the course of his term in office. you can see johnson kicking the freedmen bureau's bill away in his disdain. the freedmen's bureau was headed by oliver howard, who had lost

his right arm in june of 1862. howard is known amongst many, certainly in the black community, for working with others to organize a university that carries his name in washington dc, for which he was the president of that university from 1869 through 1874. in different districts throughout the south, agents generally former army officers and serve assistant

superintendents. despite the memory of white southerners bill just mentioned a few minutes ago, there were few to no federal troops during the period of reconstruction. that is a problem if you're looking for help from the freedmen's bureau. and the laws as they are being applied to the now defeated former confederate states. the recently freed people became politically motivated, even in the midst of other crises facing them. virginia needed a new constitution as parameters of the government's reconstruction plan. the end of may 1867, he wrote to his superior about the condition of the freedmen for the counties of smith, carol, grayson, counties and south of virginia. threats being made to intimidate freedmen and to compel them to support men in the approaching election of delegates for the convention, to make a constitution for the state, who are not acceptable to the colored people, neither to the true union men of this district.

in all such cases a we have assured the colored people they would be protected in the free exercise of all their rights. a few months later captain william austin wrote a letter regarding political activity . political clubs had been formed in nearly all the counties. through the influence of these clubs, the majority of the freedmen had been instructed in their rights and issues on the decision in which they will have the voice. they will learn not to fear and interchange their views and assert what they believe are their rights. they feel as long as they behave peaceably they have the protection of the government. they have always conducted themselves quietly and will in their meetings. it would not serve them well with most white virginians. captain austan, writing again

from this corner of virginia from blacks being discharged for supporting republicans. in may 1867, lieutenant hector reported that the feeling between the whites and blacks is apparently good. in reality it is bad. the whites don't want the blacks to vote, unless they vote as the whites tell them. they do not want them to hold meetings. southern part of the state, november 1867. he also said that numerous other is rumored to be discharged have not yet learned their names. here you see this struggle.

elderly black man voting. sort of the next generation in a former union. he did not illustrate all of the back and forth that the bureau agents were discussing in their reports. the bureau also involved itself with family affairs of the recently freed. one of its greatest achievements was documenting the marriages of former slaves. in february 1866, the virginia general assembly enacted a law, which made it such that former slaves who married during slavery would be entitled to the rights and privileges of married

couples. the superintendents created a register of of colored persons cohabitating as husband and wife. to document these couples and their children, they were left with the cliques of court and retained in the records. surviving the cohabitation registers exist for the following counties. augusta, caroline, culpepper, floyd, hanover, montgomery, prince edward, richmond county, warren, washington. they can be accessed through the virginia memory.

ages, place of birth, residence, occupation, last owners city. the names of children with the ages of each and the date of commencement with cohabitation. they are extremely important records for black virginians who are trying to document their families history. we hit the 1870 brick wall, where it is difficult to get past that because previous data did not list individual names of enslaved people. most people in the south were enslaved.

one of the more interesting of these cohabitation records i looked at came from the caroline county register, which included the notation of two old people. john baptist and his wife were both 89 years old. they had been owned by joseph chandler of caroline county. they claimed to have been a couple since 1791. whether that is true or not you can't say for sure. they did have three surviving daughters. ellen age 49 and agnes at 45. it is clear this couple had been committed to each other for potentially more than seven decades before anyone legally recognized their marriage.

all the time you ask me where slaves marry, they recognize their marriage. the state of virginia did not and this particular register did not make it possible for it to be. the bureau also attempted to aid blacks in locating family members. he relayed in 1867 that the patient spencer had come to him wishing to locate her 15-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter and maria spencer. she and her children head out into the woods in the summer of 1861. hunger compelled her to return to the house or food when they

were seized and carried off. at that time they were taken by john mitchell in lynchburg but she was never able to find out to whom they have been sold. jackson hoped the two men she thought may know something would be able to provide details. neither john mitchell, who had sold them, nor another man, knew what became of her children. margaret was destitute. mid-october 1865, she saw the attention of the superintendent of the bureau located at city point. the year of 1862 had likely been the worst year of her life. she was the mother of four children.

clayton wrote to find her transportation to be relocated with her children. numerous assistant superintendents dealt with making family members and took care of their spouse and children, ruling on matters of the behavior of free people. a literate freedmen wrote to lieutenant hs -- that -- napoleon informed the lieutenant his brother-in-law had deserted the family and refused to take care of his wife and their children. to see to his children's financial well-being. apprenticeships forced upon black children are often considered orphans because of a lack of a father, even though the mother was alive and well created another test for the bureau. in alexandria and agent wrote that black children had to be

removed from apprenticeships by force, let it be done. at the same time the bureau endorsed apprenticeships when they were unsure if the parent or parents could support their children. such as the agent in lynchburg. the officials were ordered to bind out the child in any case where the parents received government support. for those parents who are unhappy with each other they looked to the bureau to assist

them as well. merry wind murder turned to the freedmen's court the father, to whom she wasn't married to, wanted to keep the children to secure an indenture for them. mary fought back, exclaiming that john had never done anything for me. she went on, saying i could not live with him if he was always strong can add worthless. she had gone on to say he did nothing for the children. and that the children are all the support i have. i had worked hard to raise these children. i do not know what would become of me if they were taken away from me. her father has no claim to them whatsoever. and another case in staten he wrote on the half of daniel collins regarding his wife, hannah. in august of 1868 she is still not home. jackson received a reply that hannah had become the wife of a different man in manchester. collins wanted to know what he could be due to be free of his

polygamist wife. jackson asked his superior if they could strike the marriage from the register, stating what had happened or if comments needed to go to court to apply for divorce. jackson noted that collins' means are limited for divorce. the superior responded to his subordinate that collins would still legally be married unless he filed for divorce in court. we have this great image of people getting married.

obviously, for other folks as they were looking to be done with their lives from the past. education was one area where general howard and black southerners were aligned as a means to secure freedom, and credibly do to a lack of such issue and funding the bureau had to work with northern aid organizations to get their schools off the ground. it was practically impossible to assist whites with education, as noted in the beginning of 1868. he wrote that whites were opposed to educating freedmen. he went on to say poor whites are in as bad or worse condition as the freedmen. they refuse to go to school with blacks and the sentiments of both colors are that mix colors

are not practicable. they would have to wait another 100 years for integration to come to virginia. and of course some people not come willingly. learning was challenging, as reported by a color troop officer henry g thomas, who commanded the southwest virginia subdistrict at the beginning of 1869 when he responded to a questionnaire. "adverse, but not actively so as the rules. and the more barbarous part of my districts, the feeling finds itself in outlets of lies and slurs and schoolteachers and filthy jokes, not original, is published by the rebel orangutan in the marion star, the newspaper. small slips of paper and

unsuccessful to tear down the schoolhouse and flock the bureau officer. he thought the school would need another decade of support from northern aid organizations. the assistant superintendent subdistrict of staffers reported in march 1866 that white people there were very much opposed to the education of the negroes. very few will have colored children bound to them because they are obliged to educate them. in january 1866, the manasseh school was reported. the teacher had 32 students attending the school. in christiansburg out in southwest virginia, a black woman who was free before the war moved out of her own house in order to allow black people to have somewhere to go.

and a few of the better-known whites in the town supported the school, including mr. james taylor who loaned the school benches, and thomas wilson who loaned table and chairs. by february 1867 freedmen were building the school and the assistant superintendents noted to his superior, the freedmen are anxious to have a teacher. children will come to make a large school, and i respectfully request a teacher be assigned to this place with as little delay as possible. in yorktown, the monthly school report for 1867 shows a school opened in november of 1866 thanks to the assistance of the friends freedmen association. it was one white teacher, 40

male students. at 12 of the age of 16 and 15 of them could spell and read easy lessons. there is a clandestine network of people who are instructing. 45 of the students were listed as advance readers. 65 students were being instructed in writing. none of these students were free before the civil war. one month later, the same yorktown school, the population of students had exploded. 261 male students and 321 female students. on september 30, 1866, the assistant superintendent of that district stated there were school supported by northern

benevolent organizations, at a private school, taught by an educated and intelligent colored man. the only thing to be insured that blacks were being treated fairly. some contracts were very detailed, like the one between nelson walker and samuel usher. that is what it was called in the 1860's. walker was to be paid 120 dollars one year for working at the institution. the payments would be given $10 in a month. they would provide proper and suitable corners, medicine free of charge.

except in case of midwifery. $10 was to be withheld until the end of the year when inductions were to be made for any lost time. the contracts, not so detailed. the white employer agreed to give him half of the tobacco and half of the corn. to find him a family and also to close his children. the conflict was bound to occur, such as in buckingham county,

where the freedmen's bureau court heard a case regarding an 1865 winter wheat harvest. there were three men who planted as slaves, but by harvest, they worked for contracts. the former owner did not want to pay the proper amount because the freedmen had been slaves when they planted it. the bureau court ruled in avery favor of the three employees. one of the men believed he should only have to plant and harvest the crops and nothing more. the farm owner wanted him to do other responsibilities. the court agreed for the land owner that he could have joe cooper do other tasks as a sign. dozens of cases are going to be heard from the freedmen's court between the free people and their white employers.

john david, a black resident who complained to the bureau in june of 1867 that his employer assaulted him, beating him about the face and head because john had requested his weekly wages. it was written up for a potential employee. it was not a fair or just one in its provision. the compensation is totally inadequate to the labor. he knew he would not interfere with the contract but if they violated any part of the contract, i shall cancel the contract and lead them to proceed against damages. this is a series of contracts you can see. much more detail than a scrap of paper that some of them were written on.

freedmen's bureau subdistrict agents recorded an enormous amount of racial violence to their superiors, begging the question was the war really over, simply because confederate soldiers laid down their government issued arms. one example comes from stanton where in late june the employee of the virginia central railroad told the hotel there to get off the platform and then hit the porter with a club, knocking him down. the jury in the case said he was doing his duty to keep a platform clear of hotel porters. lieutenant george cook wrote that it was an act of gross injustice, the jury having given the white man permission to knock the negro down without fear of molestation.

in lexington virginia the bureau agents reported that a law student named jc johnson mortally wounded patrick thompson of freedmen. they were not isolated incidents and occurred everywhere throughout the state. sydney smith reported that charles murray, a black man had gone into the county in search of his son and was nearly murdered. writing to his boss that a black man had come in while writing to him and had been wounded by a group of white men because they refused to pay the banjo for them. the bureau ahead for york and james city county's in may of 1866 wrote that were to not for the controlling hand of the bureau and military up readies, i'm satisfied the whites would

treat them in the most unfair and unjust manner. a reporting how blacks felt towards whites, he said blacks were very fitter and were suspicious. in early 1867, the same man reported whites in the neighboring counties treated blacks harshly and cruelly, noting that free people are compelled to call their employers master and missus. they are not paid properly, if at all. instead of encouraging words from the whites, they are meted out without measure. in september 1867, captain smith reported that a color demand by

-- colored man by the name of john taylor in the vicinity of mount gilead was murdered on the night of the fourth instant. in the presence of his family, which consisted of his wife and eight children. the perpetrators came to the house of mr. taylor, all three of whom were disguised as colored men. faces painted, etc. the men went about robbing the house. the one man then put his revolver to john taylor's neck. prior to his death he stated he thought bush underwood had committed the deed.

the agent said there has been nothing done by the civil authorities to find the perpetrator of this dreadful murder, notwithstanding -- personally bringing this matter to the justice of the peace. both of them having taken a constant of the case. the civil authorities only protect the freedmen by -- smith repeated his general sentiments about the local court system. it is entirely out of question for a colored man to get done by these magistrate courts, where a white man is interested against him. at the same time the magistrate's careful to not commit himself to the proceedings.

in october 1866, sydney smith reported on the 23rd of the month a 13-year-old boy named william, who stated no surname for himself, came to smith and reported he had been living with frank taylor louden since the end of the war. taylor had strict william naked and tied the boys shirt around his head and face and beat him in such a shocking manner as to cut through the skin in several places. smith examined william. william reported he had always been used very badly by mr. taylor. immediately smith took william to a justice of the peace in leesburg and said he would issue a warrant for arrest for taylor. william ended up finding and out. they can't took the nephew to the justice of the peace talks

office, but he was out. this other justice said he had more important things to do. in the meanwhile smith had gone to the office of the initial justice of the peace, who told him taylor had went to see the aunt with william. smith said they had entered and no such agreement. smith returned to the justice of the peace and demanded a warrant be issued. the justice said he would when william appeared at the office. after william arrived the justice of the peace refused to do so because he was sticking to his tale. despite smith's efforts he noted up to the present time he has not been issued and there is no probability any action will be taken by the civil authorities in the case. smith has lots of people in northern virginia that he is dealing with. the infamous ku klux klan that you see here was involved creating concerns in the black community by early may 1868.

the agent reported this clan made their appearance in the streets of stanton about 1:00 sunday morning. causing no little consternation

on the colored people. the operations were attended with the discharge of pistols and by cheers or yelling, which occur as they did in the center of town, almost around the entire population. the colored people are excited about this subject, but little is needed to bring about the serious state of things here. i would remark that i have reported to the military commissioner for this district also, john w jordan. the last thing i will discuss before moving on to question and answer is the bureau's role in public welfare for the destitute, infirmed, elderly, orphans, those that were considered insane. the subject was most divisive in the white north with president andrew johnson and within congress. part of this divisive miss centers on the ideology of free labor within the republican

party of the mid-1800s. it would be a great amount of welfare for virginia. the freedmen bureaus -- the number of people receiving relief consistently decreased. in november 1865, more than 6000 children, more than 3500 women, and 1500 men. a little over 2500 children. white unionist refugees and the surviving records for virginia. we don't know as much about clothing. the only area of the state where i can find any information came from southwest virginia. not a lot of black people living there in the 1860's. the bureau not provide a welfare for the idle. hereafter no destitute rations be issued to any able-bodied man

and in such cases he must provide undoubted evidence with destitution. he cannot procure any sort of employment which was underlined or to partially support them. the freedmen's community at yorktown during the summer of 1865, the bureau agent stocked rations to fannie brown and her two-year-old daughter, because fannie wouldn't work. in october 1866 nelson erwin wrote to john scofield, the head of the potomac military district, we gave to the rich

white man our best years, our strength, our youth, our sweat. now that we are free we get meanness, tyranny, and injustice. and now instruct the offices of the bureau and let them insist on justice. some of our men are in a state of perpetual terror. if you turn your backs on us, who can we appeal to? unfortunately, as often was the case in the aftermath of the war years of war, blacks, in this case are wins, appeal fell on deaf ears. the freedmen's bureau, as helpful as it was at times, was in the mind's of black residents throughout the south. their only help for equal treatment and justice. the agency found its alliance with a radical republican and not with three conservative republicans, democrats, and they

were often at odds. by 1870's, the bureau is weaker than ever. on june 30, 1872, the freedmen's bureau was abolished and the agency finally came to an end. and people i have elected to show in this slide collectively represent the reconstruction did not live up to the hopes of many black and some white people. new battles were to be fought. in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, and ensure domestic tranquility, promote general welfare, and secure the lessons of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity as stated in the american constitution. that site, of course, continues into the present. thank you so much. i will be happy to answer any questions. [applause]

>> could you briefly comment on the folks who were former slaves elected to stay on plantations, how their lives may have been better or different. in the second question was when you were talking about president johnson going back and forth with congress and this battle to benefit free people and you said raises some interfered with him doing the right thing. i was surprised to hear that after he had been abraham lincoln's vice president. a politician is a politician. what evidence in his own writings you uncover that indicate he was a racist?

emmanuel: i will go in reverse order. johnson, in his address to congress, his state of the union, in the late 1860's, would routinely come back to the topic of if we, the federal government, support or eight in the support of these recently freed people, that they will become lazy and they won't work and won't take care of themselves, which certain segments of the american population still believe in 2015. these were published records, you can look them up on the internet. you can get an insight into johnson's political ideology,

shaped by his upbringing. he was not born into a wealthy family. he had a hard life. by, certainly the 1850's, he had turned a corner with his political life and at that point is a slave owner. i think the best analysis at this point of johnson and bureau is by andrew slapp. he has a book on reconstruction, broadly. and on the first question about freed people's new life in the aftermath of slavery, for those people who stayed on, i mentioned the bureau's objective was to get as many hired on contract as possible.

creating contracts was a complex issue. as i mentioned at the very beginning, there are not a lot of agents. there i just slightly more military presence in large pockets of the south. you have to go three counties over to get to your bureau agent if you have a problem with your contract or the employer. and so, it is difficult for the freed person to challenge within the contract as the congress tightens in with the money. it certainly goes on by the 1870's. free people were left to figure out for themselves the best way that they can negotiate with

their former owner, or if they move to somebody else's property to negotiate with that person. you see a lot of people try to leave the agricultural life and go to cities, where they think there are better economic opportunities. southern city start issuing orders. no, you cannot come here to richmond for petersburg. you have to go back out to the countryside and find work under contract either with your former employer or someone new. >> i wanted to understand the organizational structure.

were their offices in each county, eat state? was there any time to the congressional delegation, for example? emmanuel: no. each state is divided up into subdistricts. there would be a second tiered administrative level. and then you would have the subdistrict commissioners. each state is divided up differently. typically what you will have is a bureau agent, especially of time goes on, more likely to be located in a city and a county. if you live 20 miles away from petersburg, as some people in my

county do, you would have a dispute. it is going to take you pretty much all day to get to petersburg. then you have to arrange a meeting with their person and they have to see if they can do something to assist you or not. it becomes increasingly more difficult for the bureau agents to enforce federal law and to enforce the community or state law with the end of slavery. >> [indiscernible] as we have been following events 150 years ago it seems like now would be a time to begin conversations about reconstruction of the freedmen's bureau. do you know of plans to continue that conversation forward? are you optimistic that conversation will happen? emmanuel: yes, we are working on a reconstruction theme right now. i got asked to be the virginia person, because the mps's

organize differently. they are tied to congressional representation. even though geographically we are in the southeast region of the united states, person in the southeast region wanted to include a virginia. he asked me if i would help together places that would represent a ways to talk about reconstruction. we are actually meeting at the end of this month to brainstorm where we go next.

>> as people been winding down -- it is important to note the conversation continues. ladies and gentlemen, emmanuel dabney. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> to watch more of our civil war programming, visit our website c-span.org/history. are watching c-span tv. isthis weekend, c-span touring cities across the country. our next visit to santa rosa, california. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> in terms of property damage

and life loss per capita, no town in america had ever been as affected by an earthquake as santa rosa and i can know six. it is generally -- in 1906. the earthquake is generally known to the world as the san francisco earthquake and fire. santa rosa got shuffled aside but the devastation was staggering. inas many people had died san francisco as santa rosa am a per capita, there would have been 75,000 dead. was 52 years old from the time the community was founded. it had become a very prosperous town by 1900. in terms of night -- california towns, the railroad had been here for 30 years. effect we had 2 -- in