Post #3311212

In 1866, a remarkable movement swept across the South. Thousands of formerly enslaved Black men and women appeared before Freedmen’s Bureau officials to legally register marriages that had often existed for years—-or even decades. It was one of the largest acts of family recognition in American history, yet few Americans know the story today. Image: Soldier and Companion. United States, ca. 1861–1865. Quarter-plate tintype. Unknown photographer. Jackie Napoleon Wilson Collection. 1/9