Which agency helped formerly enslaved people after the Civil War?

• A. Freedmen's Aid Society
• B. Reconstruction Administration
• C. Freedmen's Bureau
• D. Bureau of Refugees

Answer: (C)

The main idea is identifying the government effort created to aid newly freed enslaved people during Reconstruction. The Freedmen's Bureau, officially the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, was established by Congress in 1865 to help formerly enslaved people transition to freedom. It provided food, shelter, medical care, and education, and it offered legal assistance and help with labor contracts and other rights as Southern society reorganized after the war. Its work in schooling—through schools run with federal and missionary support—was one of its most lasting legacies, laying groundwork for African American education in the era.

Private groups like the Freedmen's Aid Society did important philanthropic work, especially in education, but they were not federal agencies. The term Reconstruction Administration isn’t the designation of the main federal relief agency active for freedpeople in this period. The Bureau of Refugees is part of the same agency’s name, but the commonly known designation for this federal agency is Freedmen's Bureau, making it the best answer.