GI Bill's Exclusion of Black Veterans Built Modern Racial Wealth Gap

The 1944 GI Bill provided veterans with college tuition, home loans, and business loans, but implementation was delegated to local officials who systematically excluded Black veterans. Of the first 67,000 mortgages issued in New York and New Jersey under the GI Bill, fewer than 100 went to Black veterans. This wealth-building program, estimated to have generated trillions in wealth over generations, largely bypassed Black families.