Elizabeth Keckley - Contraband Relief Association

Contraband Relief Association

Keckley founded the Contraband Relief Association in August 1862, receiving donations from both Lincolns, as well as other white patrons and well-to-do free blacks. The organization changed its name in July 1864 to the Ladies' Freedmen and Soldier's Relief Association to "reflect its expanded mission" after blacks started serving in the United States Colored Troops. The CRA provided food, shelter, clothing, and emotional support to recently freed slaves and/or sick and wounded soldiers. The organization was based in Washington D.C., but the funds distributed and the services provided helped families in the larger region. The Contraband Relief Association became lost to history, but it set the standards and showed the need for relief organizations to provide aid to the poor and displaced black community. The work of the Contraband Relief Association within the black community helped create black autonomy. Through intra-ethnic networking, the Association created an organization by and for African Americans.

Keckley wrote about the contrabands in Washington D.C. in her autobiography. She said that ex-slaves were not going to find "flowery paths, days of perpetual sunshine, and bowers hanging with golden fruit" in Washington D.C., but that" the road was rugged and full of thorns." She saw that " appeal for help too often was answered by cold neglect." One summer evening, Keckley witnessed "a festival given for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers in the city," which whites organized. She thought the free blacks could do something similar to benefit the poor and suggested to her colored friends "a society of colored people be formed to labor for the benefit of the unfortunate freedmen."

The CRA used the independent black churches for meetings and events, such as the Twelfth Baptist Church, Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Israel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Siloam Presbyterian Church. The organization held fundraisers, with concerts, speeches, dramatic readings, and festivals. Prominent black figures who spoke on behalf of the organization included Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland Garnet, J. Sella Martin, and Wendell Phillips.

The CRA's receipts were "$838.68 the first year and $1,228.43 the second year. 5,150 articles of clothing had been received during that time." The CRA affirmed in its first annual report that "every effort made by us to obtain funds to alleviate in any way the distresses of our afflicted brethren has been crowned with success." Out of the $838.68, approximately $600 was given by and raised by black run and/or predominately black organizations such as the Freedmen's Relief Association of District of Columbia, Fugitive Aid Society of Boston, Waiters of Metropolitan Hotel, and the Young Misses of Baltimore.

The CRA distributed clothes, food, and shelter amongst the freedmen and sent funds to many. Jean Fagan Yellin notes that the CRA sent $50 to the sick and wounded soldiers at Alexandria, Virginia. The CRA hosted Christmas dinners for sick and wounded soldiers. It distributed food to other organizations. The organization helped to place African-American teachers in the newly built schools for blacks. The entire community had recognized, valued, and thanked "the officers and the members of the Association for their kindness and attentive duties to the sick and wounded;" but it was overlooked in later histories.