The Freedmen’s Bureau in Brazoria County, 1865-1867

Lesson Overview

This lesson plan contains three activities. The activities are designed to build on one another, but teachers may opt to do a single activity or any combination of activities depending on how much time is allocated to teach Reconstruction. Each activity asks students to start by reading the short narrative about a complaint five formerly enslaved men filed with the Freedmen’s Bureau in Brazoria County concerning a labor dispute. Students will have the opportunity to read and examine the documents of the testimony of the five men involved in the dispute and their employer’s representative. Students will consider this testimony alongside additional primary sources that reflect what Freedmen’s Bureau agents witnessed and reported on concerning what life was like in Texas for freed people.

Essential Questions

• How did labor contracts and the Blacks Codes replicate (recreate) conditions similar to slavery for freed people in Texas?
• Based on the testimony and outcome of the case in Brazoria County, how effective do you think the Freedmen’s Bureau was in resolving conflicts between employers and formerly enslaved laborers?
• What do you think the most difficult obstacle freed people faced in Texas? Why?