Washington was transformed by the civil war from a small town into a bustling city, doubling its population from 75,000 in the prewar census to roughly 132,000 in the next census in 1870 (Horton 65). In reality, it developed as two cities: the white and the black, the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, with little common ground between them. Washington was a southern city, with a high percentage of African Americans. It consisted of a free black population, and its ranks gradually swelled with slaves as increasing numbers arrived during the course of the Civil War. By July of 1962, the federal government had resolved the issue of runaway slaves in Washington by granting them their freedom, and in 1963 President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for all slaves held by those in rebellion against he United States (67). The prewar black population of Washington had been around 14,000 but now it had to accommodate more than 30,000 ex-slaves who had arrived during the war.
Prior to the war, the black community took care of their own, including widows, orphans, the unemployed, the sick and destitute through formal organizations and informal networks, but the extra burden of the freed slaves taxed the community's resources (Horton 67). Abolitionists established some aid societies to provide them with money, clothing, teachers and educational needs, and established a Washington Branch of the National Freedmen's Relief Association in 1862 to provide assistance. A federal 'contraband department' provided food and jobs in military support for freed slaves. Sojourner Truth came from New York to care for the sick and wounded, and a number of white philanthropists and abolitionists came to organize welfare assistance, employment and medical services and act as advocates for the rights of the newly freed slaves. Makeshift housing was constructed on vacant lots to accommodate the newcomers. Living conditi...