The Struggle toward Equality in Higher Education:The Impact of the Morrill Acts on Race Relations in Virginia, 1872-1958

• Main Author: Betts, Nicholas
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2013
• Subjects: Higher Education; Civil Rights; Equality; 1890 Morrill Act; 1862 Morrill Act; Education; Race Relations in Virginia; Arts and Humanities; History
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3052; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4051&context=etd

This thesis examines the impact of the 1862 and 1890 Morrill Acts on Virginia’s public higher education system. While the Morrill Acts, issued by the federal government, expanded access to higher education for all Americans, they also resulted in the entrenchment of segregation in seventeen different state public higher education systems. The segregated public higher education systems in Virginia and elsewhere led to inequality in the higher education available to African Americans students, compared with the higher education available to white students within these states. This thesis will address the disparity, brought about by unequal funding of institutions based upon race, which Virginia’s state government policy exacerbated, from 1872 to 1953. It will analyze the difference between the funding and program availability at Virginia Tech, designated to educate white students, compared with Virginia State University, which was the public institution designated to educate African American students during this period.