This web site focuses on what life was like for freed slaves during Reconstruction. Much of the site is about Freedman's Village, a model camp for freed slaves, that was established by the federal government in1863. The village was started as a temporary camp for freedmen or contrabands on Arlington Heights, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington DC. Although it was intended to be a temporary camp it became a community which grew and lasted until almost the end of the 19th century.

Mathew Brady Photograph of Freedman's Village Courtesty of the National Archives