This Day In Latino History

On this day in in 1944, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill, also know as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, which stated that veterans returning from World War II would have college tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and equipment paid for by the government. This changed college education for all Americans, especially the poor and disenfranchised like, you guessed it, Latinos. Before the G.I. Bill, only 10-15% of Americans could look forward to going to college and college campuses were considered a haven for the elite. By 1947, military veterans made up half of the nation’s college enrollment. Three years later, nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, compared with 160,000 in 1939. Without question, the G.I. Bill set hispanic-American families on the course toward multi-generational college education and the Latino middle class in this country was born.

In the U.S. Latino/Latina WWII Oral History Project, Roel Virgilio of Austin, Texas, (pictured), says:

I consider the G. I. Bill of Rights… the greatest piece of legislation that was ever passed…Millions of Americans, we could go from farmer boys on to college.