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

Contents

Contents List of Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: ‘‘a long time in want of a bureau’’ 兩 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 兩 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 兩 35 3 ‘‘The women are the controlling spirits’’: Freedwomen, Free Labor, and the Freedmen’s Bureau 兩 64 4 ‘‘to put forth almost superhuman efforts to regain their children’’: Freedwomen, Parental Rights, and the Freedmen’s Bureau 兩 96 5 ‘‘strict justice for every man, woman, and child’’: Gender, Justice, and the Freedmen’s Bureau 兩 141 Conclusion: ‘‘the unpardonable sin’’ 兩 167 Notes  Bibliography  Index  ...