Education in North America

Indeed, until the middle of the nineteenth century, higher education was off-limits to most women and to all but the most affluent of men. Female seminaries existed, and the end of the nineteenth century saw the development of specialized teacher training colleges for women. But the opportunities that existed for collegiate training remained the province of wealthy white men. That changed in the United States in 1862 with the passage of the Morrill Act establishing a series of land-grant colleges. These institutions were originally intended to advance technical training in agriculture but rapidly expanded into multipurpose institutions where individuals from diverse backgrounds could secure higher education.

Unlike primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, even state-supported institutions, remained relatively free from the conserving political dynamic that is at the heart of educational expansion in North America. As a result, colleges and universities were freer to open their doors to new peoples and new views. Historically black institutions and the land-grant colleges became the training ground for leaders of hitherto underrepresented groups. These leaders and allies from majority groups began, by the middle of the twentieth century, to explore critically the internal structuring of universal education in North America.