APPENDIX A*: DATA FOR CHAPTER 2
The 1868 Register of Complaints for the state of Louisiana—records kept by the Freedmen’s Bureau provost marshal general—provides data on 1,990 cases and includes the following information: the name, sex, and race of the person against whom the charge was filed; and a summary of the issues involved in the case. The following types of cases were examined: charges initiated by black women against whites, black men, and other black women; and charges brought by black men against black women.
This register is one of the single most complete and extensive sources on the Freedmen’s Bureau complaint system and how it affected, and was affected by, black women. Patterns illustrated by the results summarized in the following tables, however, have been confirmed by impressionistic analysis of other records regarding complaints. In general, the percentage of cases initiated by freedwomen (as opposed to freedmen) increased along a rural-urban continuum, reflecting the fact that a larger proportion of city women bore complete responsibility for their own welfare and that of their children.
 
 
1868 Register of Complaints, Louisiana Provost Marshal General of Freedmen
TABLE A.1.
Source of Complaints by Initiator’s Race (N = 1990)
Total Percentage
Black women69335
Black men107754
White men and women (against blacks)220 11
1990100
*Source 1868 Register of Complaints for the State of Louisiana, volt 136, ln #1372, Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Record group 105, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Of all complaints initiated bv blacks, 39 percent were brought bv women.
TABLE A.2. Nature of Complaints Initiated by Black Women and by Black Men Against Black Women (N = 741)
032
SOURCE: 1868 Register of Complaints for the State of Louisiana, vol. 136, In. # 1372, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Record group 105, National Archives, Washington. D.C.