Today, we will examine the condition of these records. We will also discuss how these records could be maintained and preserved to help millions of Americans-now and in future generations-better understand their heritage. We welcome our witnesses, and look forward to their testimony. I am glad to see my neighbor from southern California, Juanita Millender-McDonald, and we would be glad to listen to your testimony on this. [The prepared statement of Hon. Stephen Horn follows:] Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5751, the "Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000" OPENING STATEMENT A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology will come to order. One hundred and thirty-five years ago yesterday, 40-year-old former slave George Mason died in City Point, Virginia. His official death certificate is one simple line in a ledger book so tattered by age that a ribbon holds its fading pages together. If there are other records about Mr. Mason's life, they are likely buried somewhere in the millions of pages of deteriorating documents from the former Freedmen's Bureau. We are here today to examine H.R. 5157, the "Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000," introduced by Representatives Juanita Millender-McDonald of California and J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. This bill requires the Archivist of the United States to use all available technology to preserve and catalog the records of the Freedmen's Bureau. On March 3, 1865, the 38th Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and abandoned lands, known as the "Freedmen's Bureau." This bureau was given the authority to supervise and manage activities relating to the newly emancipated AfricanAmericans. Following the bureau's closure on June 30, 1872, the records from its regional offices were sent to the National Archives for storage where, to this day, these vital links to history languish in their original state, due to the lack of attention and funding. Today, we will examine the condition of these records. We will also discuss how these records could be maintained and preserved to help millions of Americans and in future generations -- better understand their heritage. We welcome our witnesses, and look forward to their testimony. now STATEMENT OF HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALI FORNIA Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for your sensitivity to this issue. Good morning to Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. I am very pleased to come before you this morning, and I am sure to be joined by Representative J.Č. Watts, my colleague that is cosponsoring this piece of legislation. We come to you this morning to share the reasons why we have proposed the Freedmen's Bureau Preservation Act of 2000. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, properly called the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of this government on March 3, 1865. This act was the culmination of several years of efforts as the U.S. Government, embroiled in Civil War, sought to settle the slave problem for the United States. From 1619 to 1800, more than 660,000 African men, women, and children were torn from their homelands in West Africa, herded onto ships and brought to North America as slaves. While the southern economy was flourishing from slave labor, the country simultaneously was building a new democracy based on the principles of liberty and individual freedom. As the democracy debate clarified issues of government and citizenship, grave contradictions were drawn between slavery and our Nation's first principle of individual freedom. As President Lincoln said, the government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. On July 4, 1861, President Lincoln in a speech to Congress said that the war was "a People's contest . . a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form and substance of government, whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men . . .." and this War Between the States was, among other things, a war about the condition of the slaves. This very body was engaged in the overwhelming challenge of moving millions of slaves from bondage to freedom. In March 1864, the House passed a bill by a slender majority of two that established a bureau for freed men in the War Department. The Senate reported a substitute bill to the House too late for action attaching the Bureau to the Treasury Department. After the 1864 elections, the House and Senate conferred and proposed a bureau independent of either War or Treasury. In the political machinations between these elected Representatives, the Senate could not agree with the House. A new conference committee was appointed which finally in 1865 established in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freed Men and Abandoned Lands. Thus, the War Department set about the enormous task of documenting, supervising and managing the transition of slaves from bondage to freedom. The Bureau deployed field offices in Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. These offices were responsible for all relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freed men, including issuing rations, clothing, and medicine. The Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, border States, District of Columbia, and Indian territory. The Bureau records that were created and maintained became the documented history of the greatest social undertaking in this country's history. During this tumultuous period of transformation between 1865 and 1872, the Freedmen's Bureau recorded the movements of slaves from community to community and State to State. For historians and genealogists these records provide the critical link between the Civil War and the 1870 census, the first one to list African Americans by name. Former slaves, recognized formerly in government records only by sex, age and color, were named in the Bureau records as individuals in marriage, government rations lists, lists of colored persons, labor contracts, indentured contracts for minors, medical records, and as victims of violence. Many historical and genealogical associations like the African American Historical and Genealogical Society, the African American Research Project, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Internet-based Afrigeneas, and annual gatherings like the family reunion have popularized African American genealogy and historical research. African Americans, like many other Americans, look to official records for their ancestors. As ship manifests are the vital link between European Americans and their European ancestors, the Freedmen's Bureau records are the link for African Americans to their slave and African ancestors. The original Freedmen's Bureau records are presently preserved at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC. Greater access to these records is a high priority for millions of Americans interested in Civil War and post-Civil War history and millions of African Americans interested in their family genealogy. There are many historians, genealogists, and family researchers interested in exploring the vast contents of these records. H.R. 5157 calls on the Archivist to microfilm the Freedmen's Bureau records, create a surname index, and put this index on-line. Innovative imaging and indexing technologies can make these records easily accessible to the public, including historians, genealogists, novice genealogy enthusiasts, and students. In fact, the Internet has transformed genealogy research. The research word "genealogy" lists 2,367,600 matches on-line and is growing daily. I took the liberty of a quick search for the chairman and ranking member's family names and came up with the following results, Mr. Chairman. The search string "Horn Genealogy” results in over 16,600 matches on-line and the search string "Turner Genealogy" resulted in 34,900 matches. Some major Internet efforts include: The Mormon's Family History Center has on-line resources that serve all ethnic groups. The USGenWeb project consists of volunteers who provide Internet Web sites for genealogical research in every county and every State of the United States. Afrigeneas is the on-line African American genealogy research group. JewishGen is the premier source of Jewish genealogy worldwide. And these are just a few. The Internet abounds with Web sites and resources for every identity group and family name imaginable. As a member of the House of Representatives, descendant of slaves and a genealogy enthusiast, I urge the subcommittee to recommend passage of this bill to the Committee on Government Reform. I look forward to H.R. 5157 passing the House and Senate and becoming law so this period in our history can become known even further to the American citizens interested in our past. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HORN. We thank you for that very good overview. I think you have time to sit with the panel this morning. Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Yes. Mr. HORN. We are delighted to have you. There is unanimous consent. [The prepared statement of Hon. Jim Turner follows:] |