The Truth is... no one entity other than Freedmen freed themselves.  To be a slave is mostly a mind-set.  Some will resolve to be slaves; some resolve to stay slaves.  Others like Our American Freedmen Ancestors found a way to be free and stay free.  This archived letter describes how a group of Freedmen made a way to rescue their families from the horrors of the economic enterprises that attempted to forced them into lifelong enslavement.

"It's just the way things were done back then..."  is not rational or a sane thing to say to someone who is a descendant of Freedmen.

And, there is indeed Nothing Christian about chattel slavery. As read in a letter pinned by a Freedmen Soldier to his daughters; and the captive of one of his daughters; only the mind-set of a demon would hold family members against their kin out of spite, profit or any type of gain.