Who Are the Freedmen?
- Freedmen Nation
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
Part One
An Introduction
My name is Arthur Watkins Jr.
I am the Primary Trustee of the Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust (FRFT) and the institutional lead of Freedmen Nation. I also direct and oversee the work of the American Freedmen Legal Fund (AFLF) as part of a coordinated institutional framework.
Together, these institutions exist for one reason: to protect the Freedmen people, their status, their history, and their legal interests.
A major issue we face today is simple but serious:
Many people do not know who the Freedmen are, why the designation exists, or why it matters legally, historically, and institutionally.
That confusion is not accidental.
It is the result of decades of erasure, mislabeling, and the intentional replacement of a legal people with vague racial terminology.
This first part is about restoring clarity.
Who Are the Freedmen?
The Freedmen are a people.
They are the descendants of individuals who were enslaved in the United States and were emancipated as a direct result of the Civil War and federal action.
“Freedmen” is not a race.
It is not a general identity.
It is a legal and historical status created by the United States government.
The term was used by federal authorities to identify a specific population transitioning from enslavement into freedom under U.S. law. That population was treated as distinct because the conditions of their emancipation created specific federal responsibilities.
Reconstruction and Federal Responsibility
After emancipation, the United States government undertook a process known as Reconstruction. This was not symbolic and it was not optional.
Reconstruction involved constitutional amendments and federal laws enacted in direct response to the condition of the Freedmen people:
The 13th Amendment, ending slavery
The 14th Amendment, addressing citizenship and civil rights
The 15th Amendment, addressing voting rights
These actions confirm that Freedmen were not an abstract group. They were a defined people whose emancipation required federal intervention.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
One of the clearest acknowledgments of this responsibility was the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was established to manage the transition from slavery to freedom by assisting Freedmen with labor contracts, housing, education, legal disputes, and protection from exploitation.
Its existence proves three things:
The Freedmen were recognized as a distinct population
The federal government accepted responsibility for their transition
That responsibility produced records, systems, and documentation that still exist today
Those records are part of how Freedmen status can be verified with precision.
The Freedmen’s Savings Bank
Another federal institution tied directly to the Freedmen people was the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company, commonly called the Freedmen’s Bank.
This bank was chartered by Congress to protect the wages and savings of Freedmen. Families entrusted their earnings to a federally sanctioned institution.
The bank failed due to mismanagement and federal negligence, wiping out the savings of thousands of Freedmen families.
Those losses were never repaid.
This is not mythology.
It is documented federal history.
Why This Still Matters
The Freedmen were never symbolic.
They were a people recognized by law, policy, and federal institutions.
When their status is blurred, obligations disappear.
When their history is erased, accountability collapses.
That is why this work must be precise.
The Role of Our Institutions
The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust, Freedmen Nation, and the American Freedmen Legal Fund operate together by design:
Freedmen Nation verifies and protects Freedmen status through records
FRFT serves as the fiduciary and protective institutional structure
AFLF carries out legal advocacy and enforcement under the direction of this work
Verification is not exclusion.
Verification is protection.
What Comes Next
This article is Part One of a structured series.
Part One: Who the Freedmen are and why the status exists
Part Two: Verification, documentation, and institutional process
Additional Content: An introductory address for Certified Genealogists supporting Freedmen verification
Clarity comes first.
Process follows.
Closing Statement
The Freedmen do not need to be redefined.
They need to be recognized accurately.
They are a people.
Their history exists.
Their legal standing exists.
Our responsibility is to protect that truth — institutionally and without compromise.