The Morrill Land Grant Acts and the Roots of Higher Educational Opportunity for African-Americans
by
Deondra Rose, Ph.D.

Since 1837, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have provided one of the most significant sources of higher educational opportunity in the United States, especially for African-Americans. Extending valuable educational opportunities to free blacks and newly freed slaves after the Civil War, HBCUs were an integral part of the nation’s rebuilding efforts during the Reconstruction era. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the federal government played a central role in the development of black colleges, and the creation of the Morrill Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 was crucial to this development. Although the first Morrill Act of 1862 led to the establishment of higher educational institutions that disproportionately catered to white students, Black students would gain targeted support under the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890. Under this policy, lawmakers provided funds to support the creation of nineteen land grant HBCUs and required states operating segregated college systems to offer equal institutional opportunities for white and black students, thereby generating additional growth in the number of colleges serving African-Americans. Given African-Americans’ marginalized status in American politics and public policymaking institutions during the period, the extent to which the second Morrill Land Grant Act expanded educational opportunity for black Americans represents an interesting puzzle. Why did lawmakers create an empowering system of higher education for African-Americans in 1890—a post-Reconstruction political moment characterized by violently repressive backlash against black Americans, especially in the South? Using a combination of primary and secondary sources including the Congressional Record, memoirs, other historical documents, and the expansive literature on the politics of Reconstruction, this paper investigates the political development of the Morrill Land Grant Acts and the features of policy design that shaped their impact on educational opportunity for African-Americans. In analyzing the development of these path-breaking programs, this paper takes seriously the political factors shaping the government’s role in establishing what would constitute the core of higher educational opportunity for African-Americans for nearly a century.
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