White southern politicians designed the distribution of benefits under the GI Bill to uphold their segregationist beliefs. So, while white veterans got into college with relative ease, Black service members faced limited options and outright denial in their pursuit for educational advancement.
Joseph Thompson
Joseph Thompson is an assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University. His current book project, "Sounding Southern: Music, Militarism, and the Making of the Sunbelt," analyzes the relationship between the Department of Defense and Nashville’s country music industry to understand how white southerners learned to embrace big government in the form of the military-industrial complex.