Freedmen's Bureau

Freedmen's Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (1865–72), established during Reconstruction to act as a welfare agency for freed slaves in the South. It was headed by Major O.O. Howard. Handicapped by inadequate funding and personnel, the bureau nevertheless built hospitals, schools, and colleges for African Americans. It had little success in improving civil rights, due to judicial and congressional hostility; its influence had

See also: Reconstruction.