African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century

Scope and Contents This collection consists of a single printed circular letter dated April 8, 1868, issued from Atlanta by Frank M. Gallagher on behalf of the Freedmen’s Bureau. The order addresses concerns about “assemblages of large numbers of colored persons, holding political discussions…guarded by numbers of armed men,” and requires that such meetings be held in the open and with prior notice given to authorities.Though nominally a measure to preserve public safety, the circular functionally...

Scope and Contents This collection consists of a single circular letter issued by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Office of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Georgia, dated October 2, 1867. The letter, authored by F.D. Sewall, Acting Assistant Adjutant General, was originally written in Washington, D.C., on September 16, 1867, and directed to Bvt. Brig. Gen. C.C. Sibley. The document mandates local authorities in Georgia to provide aid to all impoverished individuals,...

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two letters written by Russell Hubbard Nevins, a moderate abolitionist and former president of the New York Stock Exchange, to a friend in Illinois. The letters are dated December 1852 and March 4, 1853. In these letters, Nevins offers personal reflections on the political and social climate of the time, specifically condemning the Illinois "Black Law" of 1853, which severely restricted the rights of free African American people in the state.