HISTORY 100AC Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Des Plaines, Illinois, United Fruit Company, Andrew Preston
Document Summary
By 1946, over 1 million veterans were attending college under its provisions, making up half of total college enrollment. But to get into college you had to have a high school degree, which many blacks from the south did not have. The gi bill guaranteed up to 50% of a home loan made to a returning veteran. Almost 4 million gis received home mortgages through the program, spurring the postwar housing boom. Due to redlining, high rents, and limited access to banks, many blacks could not obtain mortgages. By 1984, when gi bill mortgages had mainly matured, the median white household had a net worth of ,397 or just 9% of white housing. Most of this difference was accounted for by the absence of homeownership. Nearly seven in ten whites owned homes worth an average of. By comparison, only four in ten blacks were homeowners, and their houses had average values of less than ,000.