The Reconstructionist Weekly: The Freedman's Bureau and Education in America

Much of The Reconstructionist focuses on Barrett Holmes Pitner’s theory of the American Cycle which helps explain how and why America’s current political crisis mirrors the aftermath of the collapse of Reconstruction in 1877.

As President Donald Trump aggressively implements his regressive agenda the parallels between the past and the present have become abundant and unmistakable. To highlight these parallels, we will publish The Reconstructionist Weekly each Monday, summarizing the regressive policies that undermine our democracy and how they mirror the past.

Also, on Wednesday, March 5 at 1pm, the Reconstructionism Project of the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights will be hosting a free webinar titled The Importance of Teaching Reconstruction and the Law Today. This will be a great opportunity for learning more about the parallels between the past and the present, and how we can make a more equitable, just, and free America. You can register for the free event here.

Dismantling the Freedman’s Bureau and DEI

Then → Following the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved Black Americans in their transition to freedom. The Bureau provided critical support in areas such as education, employment, and legal representation, laying the groundwork for what would later become affirmative action policies. The Bureau set up a fair wage system for formerly enslaved individuals, created a formal education system for Black Americans, and legally recognized the marriages of Black Americans, among other initiatives. 

Despite being a new government agency, much of the growth and support of the Freedman’s Bureau still came from private funds. White advocates and business leaders played a vital role in funding the bureau and creating new centers of education for Black Americans. In 1867, the U.S. Congress chartered the creation of Howard University and Howard University Hospital but without private funds in addition to public funds neither institution could have been built. Both institutions were named after Union General Oliver Howard who had become the head of the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865. By 1870, more than 1,000 schools for Black students were built in the South because of the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

However, after the collapse of Reconstruction in 1877, the Freedmen’s Bureau was dismantled, and its programs were defunded. Southern states, emboldened by the federal government’s withdrawal, enacted Black Codes and Jim Crow laws and began what we know as the first Redemption/Regression era. The progress made during Reconstruction was swiftly reversed, and the federal government’s commitment to racial equity was abandoned. 

Affirmative action as we know it today, emerged as a direct response to the post-Reconstruction agenda and the racism that persisted long after the Freedmen’s Bureau was closed. Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, mandated affirmative action and prohibited employment discrimination by federal contractors. This order was directly rooted in the principles of Reconstruction, aiming to address the racial inequities that had been exacerbated by the federal government’s abandonment of Black Americans after 1877.

Now → Today, the Trump administration has begun systematically dismantling the remnants of affirmative action and other federal equality programs, mirroring exactly what happened in the post-Reconstruction era of Regression. In addition to attacks on race-conscious hiring and admissions policies discussed last week, Trump’s administration has also begun targeting federal agencies and programs designed to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Through agency closures, forced resignations, and federal buyouts, Trump is replicating the post-Reconstruction dismantling of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Just as the Freedmen’s Bureau’s closure left Black Americans vulnerable to ongoing government discrimination, the current administration’s actions threaten to undermine decades of progress in civil rights and racial equity. 

The Department of Education

Then → While the Department of Education we know today was established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, the first federal education department was actually created during Reconstruction. In 1867, James A. Garfield, representative of Ohio, introduced a bill to Congress that would help rebuild the post-Civil War South and fund the education of formerly enslaved people. After the war, only about 10 percent of enslaved people were literate.

In 1867, with only four employees—three clerks and its commissioner Henry Barnard—the first Department of Education ran on a small budget and primarily collected statistics and facts showing the progress of education for Black children across the country. The department only lasted a year, however, before Congress demoted it to an office in the Department of the Interior due to opposition from Democrats who opposed Reconstruction. 

Soon after its creation, Democrats in Congress began criticizing the department for its efforts to educate formerly enslaved people. They believed that the government was already doing enough to rebuild the South and that a federal department was an economic burden and an overreach of federal power. After a vote, the department was demoted to an office and remained that way for another 111 years. 

Now → This week, under Trump’s direction, the Department of Education began dismantling programs designed to address racial disparities in schools. Schools were given two weeks to eliminate these programs, or they would stop receiving federal funding.

These programs, which include scholarships and grants offered specifically to students of marginalized backgrounds, were created to ensure equitable access to education for all. Under the Trump Administration, these initiatives are being defunded or eliminated entirely. There is a clear parallel here to the post-Reconstruction era, when the federal government abandoned its responsibility to protect the rights of Black Americans, leading to the rise of segregated and unequal education systems.

Trump’s nominee for the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, has promised to find “waste, fraud, and abuse,” within the department. McMahon has also continuously expressed enthusiasm for the withholding of federal funds to schools that teach about DEI or gender ideology. McMahon’s rhetoric and agenda continue to mirror those of the opponents of Reconstruction who eliminated government programs that benefited people of color and branded Reconstruction as being consumed with corruption and government waste.