The schools took off, and by the end of 1865 (the first year the Bureau operated), there were more than 90,000 freed slaves enrolled in public school. The establishment of free schools for former slaves impacted education in many ways. These schools gave both poor whites and freedmen the oppurtunity to learn and this later led to African Americans being able to hold political office and these school played a large role in this.
It was the decade in which women first abandoned the more restricting fashions of past years and began to wear more comfortable clothes (such as short skirts or trousers).
