Freedwomen and the Freedmen's Bureau: Race, Gender, and Public Policy in the Age of Emancipation / Edition 4

by Mary J. Farmer-Kaiser

Overview

Established by congress in early 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands-more commonly known as the Freedmen's Bureau-assumed the Herculean task of overseeing the transition from slavery to freedom in the post-Civil War South. Although it was called the Freedmen's Bureau, the agency profoundly affected African-American women. Until now remarkably little has been written about the relationship between black women and this federal government agency. As Mary Farmer-Kaiser clearly demonstrates in this revealing work, by failing to recognize freedwomen as active agents of change and overlooking the gendered assumptions at work in Bureau efforts, scholars have ultimately failed to understand fully the Bureau's relationships with freedwomen, freedmen, and black communities in this pivotal era of American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823232116
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	05/29/2010
Series:	Reconstructing America
Edition description:	4
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mary Farmer-Kaiser is Associate Professor of History as well as the James D. Wilson/BORSF Memorial Professor in Southern Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: "a long time in want of a bureau" 1

1 "that the freed-women ... may rise to the dignity and glory of true womanhood": The Men, Purpose, and Gendered Freedom of the Freedmen's Bureau 14

2 "a weight of circumstances like millstones about their necks to drag and keep them down": Freedwomen, Federal Relief, and the Freedmen's Bureau 35

3 "The women are the controlling spirits": Freedwomen, Free Labor, and the Freedmen's Bureau 64

4 "to put forth almost superhuman efforts to regain their children": Freedwomen, Parental Rights, and the Freedmen's Bureau 96

5 "strict justice for every man, woman, and child": Gender, Justice, and the Freedmen's Bureau 141

Conclusion: "the unpardonable sin" 167

Notes 173

Bibliography 239

Index 269

Editorial Reviews

Mary Farmer-Kaiser's much-anticipated and excellent new book, Freedwomenand the Freedmen's Bureau, offers the first systematic examination of whatshe calls 'the gendered nature of bureau work.' In masterful fashion, sheexplores the work of the Freedmen's Bureau as an institution whilesimultaneously placing the former slaves, women in particular, at thecenter of her analysis. In doing so, she convincingly demonstrates, inrefreshingly clear and jargon-free prose, that issues of gender areessential to any understanding of the bureau and of emancipation. -John C. Rodrigue A lively and compelling book on the complex relationship between the Freedmen's Bureau and freedwomen. -Carol Faulkner

". . . Easy to read and covers the entirety of the South. The notes and bibliography will be of use to anyone working on Reconstruction topics, especially those related to gender."-Choice

"This work is essential for understanding not only the Fredmen's Bureau's policies but also the plight of black women in the first years of emancipation."-Larry A. Greene, Virginia Magazine

Farmer-Kaiser's contribution adds to our understanding of where conflicting philosophies in terms of class, geography, race, and gender collided in the Reconstruction-era South.-Civil War Monitor

From the Publisher

Freedwomen and the Freedmen's bureau is well researched and written... Mary Farmer-Kaiser has produced an important work that furthers our understanding of the complexities of the Reconstruction era.

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

This work is essential for understanding not only the Fredmen's Bureau's policies but also the plight of black women in the first years of emancipation.

Virginia Magazine

Farmer-Kaiser's contribution adds to our understanding of where conflicting philosophies in terms of class, geography, race, and gender collided in the Reconstruction-era South.

Civil War Monitor

Farmer-Kaiser made extensive use of field office records and the commissioner and assistant commissioner records for Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, chosen for quality and the geographic, demographic, and economic diversity they presented.

American Historical Review

Overall, this is a first-rate work that is long overdue in Reconstruction historiography.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte - Rebecca A. Kosary

Farmer-Kaiser's contribution to the literature is significant in that she is the first scholar to examine in a book-length study how the polities of the Freedmen's Bureau were shaped by gender ideologies.

H-Net Reviews

"Mary Farmer-Kaiser’s much-anticipated and excellent new book, Freedwomen and the Freedmen’s Bureau, offers the first systematic examination of what she calls 'the gendered nature of bureau work.' In masterful fashion, she explores the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau as an institution while simultaneously placing the former slaves, women in particular, at the center of her analysis. In doing so, she convincingly demonstrates, in refreshingly clear and jargon-free prose, that issues of gender are essential to any understanding of the bureau and of emancipation.

Stonehill College, author of Reconstruction in the Cane Fields: From Slavery to Free Labor in Louisiana's Sugar Parishes - John C. Rodrigue