John Biewen: One of the most massive policy initiatives ever undertaken by the U.S. government was the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill of Rights. Among other things, the program sent veterans of World War Two, and later the Korean and Vietnam Wars, to college. On paper, the GI Bill made no racial distinctions. But, here’s Deena again.
Deena Hayes-Greene: What was the education climate like regarding race in the 1940s, 50s and 60s? It was segregated. Where did men of color have to go to school? Historically black colleges and universities. There were not a lot of historically black colleges and universities. Most of them were teachers’ colleges and agricultural schools. They couldn’t meet the demand of people coming home, wanting to take advantage of a government sponsored education. White schools weren’t letting them in, so that meant white people came home and had access to government-sponsored education in ways that people of color didn’t have.
John Biewen: Millions of mostly-white men got higher education through the GI Bill and became engineers, scientists, doctors, teachers. The GI Bill also sent people to trade schools and helped veterans find jobs. But here again, men of color were at a disadvantage because of the military’s racist practices back then in assigning jobs within the military.
Deena Hayes-Greene: So when people came home and met with a job counselor, a local job counselor, their duties were to line up a civilian job that matched skills you gained in the military. White men came home and became builders and welders and mechanics, and men of color came home and became dishwashers and cooks. And that has been a multi-generational situation for their families. So, it just, it pains me when we do “why people are poor” and people talk about people’s choices and mindsets. To say that it’s just the way they think that’s responsible for their condition.
John Biewen: From its passage in 1944 until 1971, the GI Bill spent ninety-five billion dollars on veterans, helping them buy homes, get vocational training, and start businesses. In his book,
When Affirmative Action was White
, political scientist Ira Katznelson writes that the law needed Southern support to pass, and Southern white lawmakers made sure it would be administered at the local level and would respect the quote-unquote “customs” of Jim Crow. Private mortgage lenders, employers, and trade schools turned away black applicants. So even though some people of color did benefit from the GI Bill, the overall effect of the law, Katznelson says, was to vastly widen the wealth and opportunity gaps between white and black Americans.
Deena Hayes-Greene: So, in white families, money travels very differently. It travels from parent to adult child, in the form of some kind of assistance. Not a big trust fund. But it might be that I can give you a down payment on a home. I can help you with school, pay for it or help you or give you some assistance, buy your books. I can buy you a car so you can work while you’re in school. I have a home you can live in while you’re saving money. I have social security as you’re making your way and paying your bills; you don’t have to take care of me and your father. In families of color because of this history, money travels from adult child to parent.
John Biewen: Looking at all this history together, it’s not hard to see why the median white household today has 13 times the assets—the wealth—of the average black household. In fact, because of this history, the average white family headed by someone who never finished high school has more generational wealth, more money, more assets, than the average black household headed by someone with a college degree.
