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Of The Dawn Of Freedom

© W. Owen Brown

Careless seems the great Avenger;

History’s lessons but recorded

One death-grapple in the darkness

“Twixt old systems and the Word;

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne;

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And behind the dim unknown

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above His own.

- LOWELL.

W.E.B. Du Bois uses these prophetic words to set the stage for a brilliant analysis of a little known piece of American History:

"It is the aim of this essay to study the period of history from 1861 to 1872 so far as it relates to the American Negro. In effect, this tale of the dawn of Freedom is an account of that government of men called the Freedmen’s Bureau, - one of the most singular and interesting of the attempts made by a great nation to grapple with vast problems of race and social condition". W.E.B. Du Bois

Du Bois chronicles the legacy of the Freedman’s Bureau, in Of The Dawn Of Freedom. He sets the stage of the American scene during the Civil War and the Nation’s need to address the issue of its Negro citizens. Du Bois lays forth the atmosphere which lead to the Emancipation Proclamation and the creation of what would become the Freedman’s Bureau. His in-depth analysis of the issues encountered by a government agency tasked with the greatest challenge to face a nation and how that agency would inevitably cause its own demise was truly thought provoking.

W.E.B. Du Bois clearly pointed out how a nation needing to find an answer to the problem of what to do with its newly freed Negro citizens…and what to do with the newly defeated southern secessionists…created an agency founded in good and well intentioned principle…failed to successfully resolve any major issues. Politically, the Freedman’s Bureau was never given a solid set operating principles, legal or financial backing to be able to accomplish the task which the Nation needed. In analyzing what the Freedman’s Bureau was tasked to accomplish, it is understandable why white southerner’s were so embittered at the former slaves.

Although, to the victor go the spoils of war…the indignity suffered by the former slave owners was bound to cause a deep resentment. When these disenchanted southerners began to take that resentment out on the Negro citizens, the Freedman’s Bureau lacked the legal power to intervene. That was left up to the local judicial system, which was sympathetic to the former slave owners. Although the Freedman’s Bureau accomplished many things to benefit southern Negroes thru education and economic growth, it failed to complete the task of making Negroes equal citizens.

The copyright of the article Of The Dawn Of Freedom in Writing from Harlem is owned by W. Owen Brown. Permission to republish Of The Dawn Of Freedom in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.