African Americans, women, and the GI Bill
Though the GI Bill itself did not bar female or African American veterans from enjoying its benefits, discrimination at the structural level often limited the GI Bill's benefits to white men. Though the program was federally funded, its implementation was directed at the state and local level by the Veterans Administration (VA), which was almost entirely white and closely affiliated with the pro-segregation American Legion. VA job counselors frequently steered African American veterans who applied for tuition benefits towards vocational training instead of university courses. In some cases, black applicants were told that they needed no further education since the job market had no place for blacks as skilled workers--only as menial laborers.
Even if African American veterans could attain GI Bill tuition money, it was far from certain that they could surmount entrenched prejudice and segregation at the university level to complete their educations. Many colleges had either stated or implied caps on the number of black students they would admit. Weary after enduring the insults of the segregated military, most black veterans elected to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) when possible, even if it meant waiting a year or more to matriculate due to overcrowding. HBCUs were few and far between in the north, however, so black veterans above the Mason-Dixon line had even fewer opportunities to pursue higher education.
Furthermore, even though African Americans were entitled, in principle, to the same loan guarantees as whites, they faced serious barriers to homeownership. Many banks refused to loan money to blacks, federal guaranty or not. Suburban neighborhoods often boasted of restrictive covenants that banned African American families from purchasing homes in their subdivisions. As more and more white families moved to the white-picket-fenced suburbs characteristic of 1950s America, black citizens were confined to decaying inner cities.
The GI Bill's legacy
The GI Bill, as a last gasp of the New Deal, demonstrated a growing sense that the US government was obligated to protect the rights of Americans, including the right to work and education as compensation for military service.^6
The GI Bill was also key in creating the affluent American society of the 1950s and 1960s. But the uneven distribution of its benefits would have ramifications for years to come. Chief among these was the growing resentment of African Americans to being shut out of schools, neighborhoods, and entire economic brackets as the postwar boom stopped at the color line. Their frustration would soon erupt into the modern Civil Rights Movement.
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