Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands Established

Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands on March 3, 1865 — the first federal social welfare agency in American history — to assist four million formerly enslaved people in the transition to freedom. The Bureau established hospitals, negotiated labor contracts, adjudicated disputes, and crucially founded or supported more than 1,000 schools for Black Americans, laying the foundation for Black education in the South.