The first GI Bill, Servicemen's Readjustments Act of 1944, provided the foundation for today's black middle class and educated the generation who spearheaded the civil rights movement. It is also credited with catalyzing development of adult and continuing education. Coinciding with the GI Bill was legislation to improve and expand black colleges.…

The GI Bill is seen as the most revolutionary and radically empowering federal legislation to affect American higher education in the 20th century. The bill gave African American veterans more access to higher education than ever before, at government expense, and helped improve the quality of education at black colleges. (MSE)