Freedmen Search

Recently digitized documents from the Freedmen's Bureau, the agency tasked with helping newly emancipated men and women in the South, were the foundation for a two-and-a-half-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

This tool enabled reporters to search through nearly 1.8 million records from the Freedmen's Bureau, including nearly 500,000 documents that have been transcribed by volunteers at the Smithsonian.

Use this tool to search names, places or phrases on topics such as land records, marriages, school records and more.