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1968: Kerner Commission Documents a Divided Society 1942: Detroit Rebellion an Omen of Deadly Riots 1988: Debi Thomas Medals at Winter Olympics 1870: Political Deal Brings End to Reconstruction 1870: Hiram Revels Becomes First Black U.S. Senator 1864: Rebecca Lee Crumpler Becomes a Physician 1868: W.E.B DuBois Born in Massachusetts 1988: First Grammy Awarded in Rap Category 1965: Malcolm X Assassinated in New York City 1895: Anti-Slavery Crusader Frederick Douglass Dies
February 7, 1862
Freedman's Aid Society Established in Boston
On this date in 1862, the New England Freedman's Aid Society was founded in Boston to assist free blacks, including former slaves. for the purpose of assisting former slaves and free blacks. The Society provided schooling and other services until it was dissolved in 1874. (In some ways, the purpose of the Society was overtaken by the federal Freedman's Bureau -- officially, the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands -- which was organized by the U.S. government at the start of Reconstruction in 1865.)