What do you think?
Rate this book
From Slavery to Uncertain Freedom: The Freedmen's Bureau in Arkansas, 1865-1869
As black Arkansans emerged from chattel slavery in the aftermath of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, they were supported in their efforts to redefine their lives by the work of the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal agency monitoring the South to ensure that at least a modicum of freedom was granted to the new citizens.
In this account of the gains made by Arkansas freedmen during this period, Randy Finley takes a fresh approach by telling the story from the perspective of the blacks and whites who directly benefited from the Bureau, rather than from the perspective of the government bureaucrats, as found in reports from other states. Freedpersons tested their freedom in many ways - by assuming new names, searching for lost family members, moving to new residences, working to provide for their families, learning to read and write, forming and attending their own churches, creating thier own histories and myths, struggling to obtain land, and establishing different, nuances in race, gender, and class. As they built a bridge from slavery into freedom in these early years, African Americans learned for themselves that genuine psychological freedom is not granted by others.
In this account of the gains made by Arkansas freedmen during this period, Randy Finley takes a fresh approach by telling the story from the perspective of the blacks and whites who directly benefited from the Bureau, rather than from the perspective of the government bureaucrats, as found in reports from other states. Freedpersons tested their freedom in many ways - by assuming new names, searching for lost family members, moving to new residences, working to provide for their families, learning to read and write, forming and attending their own churches, creating thier own histories and myths, struggling to obtain land, and establishing different, nuances in race, gender, and class. As they built a bridge from slavery into freedom in these early years, African Americans learned for themselves that genuine psychological freedom is not granted by others.
229 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 31, 2022
My wife and I recently toured Civil War battlefields in Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Along the way, we stopped in Little Rock, AR where my wife's great-great-grandfather served in the 3rd Minnesota Infantry that participated in the capture of Little Rock in July 1863. The event was captured in this painting. The same ancestor, upon discharge, worked for the Freedmen's Bureau in Pine Bluff AR (a place we also stopped at, albeit briefly). We both wanted to know more about the Freedmen's Bureau in Arkansas and happened upon this book by Randy Finley. So, I bought it.
Reconstruction Era history is something I have much less knowledge of than the actual Civil War, but the broad outlines of Reconstruction I do understand. Let's just say that freedpersons (as Finley describes the formerly enslaved) didn't have a great time of it during the span of this book, which is basically 1865-1868.
From what I can gather, this was Finley's dissertation, perhaps edited afterwards into a published book. It is exhaustively researched with copious notes and sources. He clearly dove into primary sources which included Freedmen's Bureau agent reports, newspapers, and oral histories.
This book is not per se a narrative history of the Freedmen's Bureau, such as one might imagine a history of a contemporary organization like a railroad. Nor, is it a narrative history of Arkansas 1865-68 with a focus on the recently freed and the resistance from the white population. Instead, it attempts, as a good academic would, to divide the freedperson's experience into themes - Identity, Economics, Violence and Care of the Body & Mind. These themes are bookended by the origins of the Freedmen's Bureau and its dissolution. The themes are explored by a bevy of the aforementioned primary sources with occasional forays into synthesis and analysis. As much of the primary source material comes from Freedmen's Bureau reports - the subtitle is justified.
And, like a good dissertation, there are charts showing all sorts of activity from economics to schooling. A couple of uses of the word "dialectic" and you know you are not reading a popular history - but to be fair, the book is not turgid or steeped in graduate-level prisms and frameworks used to analyze history.
I gave it two stars for the general audience, but if you have specific interest in Arkansas 1865-1868 because (and here, 4 stars):
* Your ancestors were there as freedpersons
* Your ancestors were there as the incumbent whites - perhaps as planters, or worse, Klansmen
* Your ancestors were there as agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, or imported as teachers
The book would also be good for someone in the creative space looking to make a work of art (film, TV, theatre) about the freedperson's experience as there are countless anecdotes and vignettes to weave a broader tapestry from.
I commend Finley for undertaking this research, but I would not start here on your foray into understanding Reconstruction. Definitely, a specialist book.
Reconstruction Era history is something I have much less knowledge of than the actual Civil War, but the broad outlines of Reconstruction I do understand. Let's just say that freedpersons (as Finley describes the formerly enslaved) didn't have a great time of it during the span of this book, which is basically 1865-1868.
From what I can gather, this was Finley's dissertation, perhaps edited afterwards into a published book. It is exhaustively researched with copious notes and sources. He clearly dove into primary sources which included Freedmen's Bureau agent reports, newspapers, and oral histories.
This book is not per se a narrative history of the Freedmen's Bureau, such as one might imagine a history of a contemporary organization like a railroad. Nor, is it a narrative history of Arkansas 1865-68 with a focus on the recently freed and the resistance from the white population. Instead, it attempts, as a good academic would, to divide the freedperson's experience into themes - Identity, Economics, Violence and Care of the Body & Mind. These themes are bookended by the origins of the Freedmen's Bureau and its dissolution. The themes are explored by a bevy of the aforementioned primary sources with occasional forays into synthesis and analysis. As much of the primary source material comes from Freedmen's Bureau reports - the subtitle is justified.
And, like a good dissertation, there are charts showing all sorts of activity from economics to schooling. A couple of uses of the word "dialectic" and you know you are not reading a popular history - but to be fair, the book is not turgid or steeped in graduate-level prisms and frameworks used to analyze history.
I gave it two stars for the general audience, but if you have specific interest in Arkansas 1865-1868 because (and here, 4 stars):
* Your ancestors were there as freedpersons
* Your ancestors were there as the incumbent whites - perhaps as planters, or worse, Klansmen
* Your ancestors were there as agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, or imported as teachers
The book would also be good for someone in the creative space looking to make a work of art (film, TV, theatre) about the freedperson's experience as there are countless anecdotes and vignettes to weave a broader tapestry from.
I commend Finley for undertaking this research, but I would not start here on your foray into understanding Reconstruction. Definitely, a specialist book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review