The Souls of Black Folk: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

After opening with a poem by James Russell Lowell, Du Bois begins this chapter by repeating the statement that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” He presents this as a global problem, rather than one that solely affects the U.S., and argues that “the question of Negro slavery” was the main cause of the American Civil War. Du Bois explains that in this chapter, he will examine the years 1861-1872 in the context of the African American community, paying particular attention to the Freedmen’s Bureau, which he characterizes as “one of the most singular and interesting” efforts to address the problem of the color line within the U.S.

At the time, the President, Congress, and others all insisted that the Civil War was not about the question of slavery; however, the large numbers of fugitive slaves who appeared behind the lines of Northern forces proved that this was not the case. There was confusion over how to deal with these “black refugees,” with some suggesting that they should be returned to slave masters and others arguing they should be considered “contraband.” Eventually these fugitive slaves were put to work by Union forces, which “complicated rather than solved the problem.”

Eventually, President Lincoln “saw the inevitable” and issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and soon Congress called for black men to enlist in the army. However, there was still confusion over what to do with the newly liberated slaves, with army officers wondering if they were obligated to provide food and shelter for those who were not eligible to fight. In the end, the Bostonian Edward L. Pierce “pointed out the way,” overseeing the beginnings of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Meanwhile, there was a proliferation of Freedmen’s Aid organizations, which sent money, clothes, and educational materials to the South.

Even while schools, banks, and other institutionsfor newly freed black people were being established, there was still much uncertainty and inefficiency in the system. Many black people in the Southfound themselves unemployed or working for little to no pay. Meanwhile, land that had been abandoned during the war and dissolution of slavery was seized in order to be given to former slaves, and President Lincoln encouraged the establishment of a “comprehensive and unified plan” for the fallout of Emancipation, but this was only executed in a “half-hearted” way.

In March 1865, Congress officially established the Freedmen’s Bureau. The purpose of the Bureau was to “protect” freedmen, provide them with 40 acres of land, regulate their wages, and issue rations of clothing, food, and fuel. This made each newly freed black person the “ward of the Nation,” a relationshipDu Bois portrays as especially tense given the power dynamic present during slavery. The first Commissioner of the Bureau was Major-General Oliver O. Howard, whom Du Bois describes as “honest” and well-meaning, a little incompetent, yet responsible for much positive and progressive work.

Some of the tasks of the Bureau, in addition to distributing rations and establishing schools, included instituting marriages among freedmen, acting as a court of law when necessary, and helping freedmen draw up contracts with their employers. Du Bois identifies two major challenges the Bureau faced: firstly, the distribution of land to freedmen required the seizure of what was technically private property. As a result the Bureau ended up with far less land under its control than it initially anticipated. Secondly, it was difficult to ensure that the Bureau functioned efficiently, particularly at the local level, where there was “a heterogeneous and confused but already existing system of relief and control of ex-slaves.”

Despite all the challenges it faced, the Freedmen’s Bureau did achieve positive outcomes, including greatly reducing physical suffering. It also “inaugurated the crusade” of New England women who traveled South to teach. In 1866 there was a debate over whether to expand the Bureau, with some arguing that expansion was necessary in order to secure the Thirteenth Amendment and others claiming that such expansion would be a breach of constitutional rights. Ultimately, a bill expanding the Bureau was passed through Congress, but vetoed by President Johnson. Despite this, the Bureau retained a great many powers, including tax collection, law-making, criminal punishment, and so on.

The climate of the South at the time was tumultuous; Du Bois describes it as akin to “waking from some wild dream to poverty and social revolution.” The very name of the Freedmen’s Bureau was counter to the ideology that had dominated Southern life for two centuries. Freed slaves, meanwhile, were left “bewildered between friend and foe.” Although the system of slavery had been eradicated, the people who participated in it remained, as did their passionate feelings of hatred and fear of one another.

Between its founding and June 1869, the Freedmen’s Bureau facilitated the medical treatment of half a million people. In its mission to make freedmen into “peasant proprietors,” however, the Bureau faced insurmountable challenges, and the dream of “forty acres and a mule” for every freed slave was not realized. Du Bois argues that the Bureau’s greatest success was in the area of education. Although there was at first bitter opposition among whites at the prospect of promoting the schooling of young black people, $6 million was spent on education during Reconstruction, and major black universities such as Howard, Fisk, Atlanta, and Hampton were founded.

The Freedmen’s Bureau’s least successful area of work, meanwhile, was justice. The main task of the Bureau was to make up for the deep racism of the Southern courts; however, the result of this was that “Bureau courts tended to become centers simply for punishing whites,” whereas the Southern courts essentially aimed at “perpetuating the slavery of blacks.” Meanwhile, beyond the courthouse, white people sought their own violent “revenge” on black people through beatings, rape, and lynching. However, Du Bois argues that although it is easy from a contemporary perspective to criticize the Bureau, at the time it would have been impossible to know how to address the issues the Bureau faced.

Du Bois summarizes the work of the Bureau, arguing that it successfully put to use over $15 million helping freedmen, yet failed to mitigate the intense prejudice harbored by Southern whites, the “ex-masters.” Du Bois claims it was natural that an institution like the Bureau would be subject to harsh criticism, and in 1870, there was a Congressional investigation of the Bureau that eventually led to the court marshal of General Howard in 1874. Although Howard was eventually exonerated, these events brought to light many of the Bureau’s problems.

In general, most critics of the Bureau did not object to its handling of particular matters so much as to the fact that it existed in the first place. Du Bois argues that had the Bureau not faced such widespread opposition from Southern whites, it could have established itself as a permanent institution that would have made a significant difference in shaping the South after slavery. Ironically, the argument that the federal government should not intervene in race relations ended up being used to justify the enfranchisement of African American men.This argument proposed that the government should cease its manipulation of Southern society and allow ordinary white and black men to take matters into their own hands. Du Bois characterizes this surprising logical twist by stating that “the Freedmen’s Bureau died, and its child was the Fifteenth Amendment.”

Du Boiscompares the premature death of the Bureau to that of a young person, and emphatically claims that, despite the efforts of the Bureau and of black people themselves, “the Negro is not free.” In many parts of the country, the lives of freedmen and their descendants still resemble slavery, and the legacy of the Freedmen’s Bureau is its unrealized potential. Du Bois concludes the chapter by repeating its first claim, that the “problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.”