General Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909) was a Civil War general who fought with William Tecumseh Sherman in his march to the sea. After the Civil War, he was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) from 1865-1874 and dedicated most of the Bureau’s resources to education. Also in 1867, he was a member of the group who founded an institution of higher education for African Americans in Washington, D.C. It was named after him (Howard University), and he served as its President from 1869-1874. By 1872, the Freedmen’s Bureau had lost political support and funding, and it was dismantled. Howard moved West, becoming active again in the military. He was instrumental in the questionable act of removing Native Americans to reservations, and he finished his career with several postings that were not prestigious. Credit: Wikipedia
Speaking to the children at the Storrs School in Atlanta in 1868 General Oliver Otis Howard, asked: “What should I tell the children in the North about you?”