New Representations of a 'Misrepresented Bureau': Reflections on Recent Scholarship on the Freedmen's Bureau
Title:
New Representations of a 'Misrepresented Bureau': Reflections on Recent Scholarship on the Freedmen's Bureau
Author:
Harrison, Robert
Appeared in:
American nineteenth century history
Paging:
Volume 8 (2007) nr. 2 pages 205-229
Year:
2007-06
Contents:
It is hard to deny the central importance of the Freedmen's Bureau to the politics of Reconstruction. Since the 1970s, however, there has been a huge upsurge of interest in the Freedmen's Bureau. This article offers some reflections on the state of the scholarship today, and suggests that what the 'New Freedmen's Bureau Historiography' has taught us is that, within the parameters set by the unforgiving dynamics of Reconstruction, Bureau agents, most of them at least, struggled to negotiate the terms of freedom for African Americans. By probing the variations, the tensions, the contradictions in the agency's history, 'New Freedmen's Bureau Historiography' has left us with a more complete and detailed picture of the practical workings of Reconstruction on the troubled ground of the postbellum South.
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