The document provides a historical timeline comparing important events in American higher education history and general U.S. history from 1636 to 1972. Some key events include the establishment of Harvard College in 1636 as the first institution of higher education in America, the Morrill Act of 1862 which established land grant colleges, the GI Bill of 1944 which expanded access to higher education for veterans, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 which ended school segregation, and the Higher Education Act of 1972 which prohibited discrimination in higher education based on gender and parental status.

1. Historical Timeline
Submitted by Wendy Alemán
American Higher Education History U.S. History in General
1636 Harvard Established 1636 Two New Colonies Established
Founded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Roger
Harvard was the first college established in the Williams established the Rhode Island Colony. The
United States. Connecticut Colony is established by Thomas Hooker
and a group of Massachusetts colonists.
Source - Rudolph
Source – Website:
http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html
1637 Pequot War
Shortly after the establishment of Harvard, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony along with the newly
founded Connecticut Colony attacked the Pequot tribe.
In a surprise attack, the English colonies killed an
estimated 400-700 Pequot Men, Women, and children
at the Pequot Missituck village. Already low in
numbers, the Pequot tribe was weakened; surviving
Pequots from other villages scatter into hiding in other
tribes.
Source – Website: http://www.pequotwar.com/

2. American Higher Education History U.S. History in General
1837 – Oberlin College Enrolls Women 1838 – Trail of Tears
Oberlin established coeducational higher education Approximately 4,000 Cherokee Indians die on the trail
by offering women the traditional B.A. degree and of tears on their long migration from Georgia to
a special diploma for completion of “ladies Okalahoma.
course.”
Source –Website:
Source – Rudolph www.factmoster.com/ipka/A0903594.html
1848 Boston Female Medical College 1848 The end of the Mexican-American War
Samuel Gregory formed the medical college Fought from 1846 to 1848, the end of the Mexican-
because he disapproved of the idea male doctors American war resulted in victory for the United States.
being present for childbirth. The college The Treaty of Guadalupe (February of 1848), spell-out
curriculum, therefore, focused on midwifery. (The the terms of the resolution. Mexico turned over
college operated for 26 years and later merged with California and New Mexico and recognized the
Boston University Medical School). boundaries established by the Rio Grande. The U.S.
paid approximately, $15,000,000 for the land
Source – Website: exchange. In addition, the U.S. was to provide current
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh Mexicans in the newly acquired territory the option of
_boston_female_medical.htm U.S. citizenship and promised to allow them to keep
their property and possessions. However, because of
technicalities of the law (such as an additional step to
acquire citizenship), many Mexicans were left without
legal rights, many lost their possessions and land.
Source – Website: http://home.sandiego.edu/~villegas/
1862 Morrill Act 1863 Emancipation Proclamation
At a time when the country was in turmoil and the President Abraham Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862 declared
South had departed from the Union, the Morrill that all slaved shall be free effective January 1, 1863.
Act passed on July 2 of 1862. The act established With this act, Lincoln hoped to encourage all blacks,
land grant colleges and granted each state 30,000 slaved or free, to join the efforts of the union. Overall,
acres for each representative and senator it had in the proclamation served to change the mission of the
congress. With this act, state colleges across the civil war.
country were established.
Source - Website: www.ourdocuments.gov; WA
Source - Website: www.ourdocuments.gov; WA
1869 – Cornell Established 1863 Gettysburg Address
The institution would unite practical and liberal Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address, a two-
learning. It wanted to be the Apex of higher minute speech, which later became immortalized in the
education in New York. Established with the land history of the United of States.
grant idea and the principle of electives.
Source – Website:
Source - Rudolph www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0194017.html

3. American Higher Education History U.S. History in General
1921 – Founding of Work study Plan 1920 Women’s Voting
Mixed liberal education, work experience and August 18 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is
social training. passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
Source – Rudolph Source – Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920
1944 The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1942-1946 Japanese Internment and Relocation
Also known as the GI Bill, this act allowed While Japanese Americans were classified by the FBI
veterans of World War II access to higher as “enemy aliens” shortly after the bombing of Pearl
education. With this act, higher education saw an Harbor and thousands immediately arrested, it was not
explosion in enrollment. “In the peak year of until January of 1942 when the Attorney General began
1947, veterans accounted for 49 percent of college establishing prohibited zones. By February, Franklin
enrollment” (website). D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which
defined military areas where Japanese Americans were
Source – Website: not allowed to reside. This executive order ultimately
http://www.gibill.va.gov/education/GI_Bill.htm resulted in the relocation of over 110,000 people of
Japanese Ancestry out of their homes.
Source – Website:
http://www.iusb.edu/~journal/2002/meller/meller.html
1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education 1954 Ellis Island Entry Point Closes.
“The landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown Between 1892-1954 roughly 12 million immigrants
aimed at ending segregation in public schools. On stopped in Ellis Island, the principal federal
May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously immigration station.
declared that separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Source – Website:
Amendment to the United States Constitution, http://www.internationalchannel.com/education/ellis/o
which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of verview.html
the laws."”
Source – Website: http://www.nps.gov/brvb/ 1955 Rosa Park Arrested
Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress in
Montgomery, Alabama refuses to give up her seat to a
white man and is arrested for this act. Rosa Park‟s act
of civil disobedience is credited for fueling the
Montgomery Bus Boycott and the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement.
Source – Website:
http://library.thinkquest.org/4623/parks.htm?tqskip1=1

4. American Higher Education History U.S. History in General
1961 – Dixon v. Alabama 1964 – Civil Rights Act passed
This court ruling establishes „due process‟ in This landmark legislation intended to end
higher education. Basically, it stated that students discrimination based on race, color, religion, or
have a constitutional right and should be given due national origin.
process in dismissal from an institution.
Source – Website:
Source – Website: http://www.higher- http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/39.ht
ed.org/heus/Important_Events.pdf m
1969 – First Women Accepted into Yale and 1969 – New President
Princeton January 20 - Richard Nixon succeeds Lyndon Johnson
While women gain the rights to vote in the 1920s, as President of the United States of America
it took another 49 years before prestigious schools
such as Yale and Princeton opened their doors to Source – Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969
women.
Source – Website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969
1972 – Reauthorization of the Higher Education 1972 – Nixon Wins Presidental Election
Act In a landslide victory, Nixon is re-elected. “Nixon won
This reauthorization prohibited discrimination a majority vote in 49 states, with only Massachusetts
based on gender, marital and parental status in the and the District of Columbia voting for the challenger,
areas of “…admissions, financial aid, health and resulting in an even more lopsided Electoral College
insurance benefits, career guidance and counseling tally.”
services, housing facilities, courses and other
educational activities, and scholastic, intramural, Source – Website:
club, or intercollegiate athletics.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,
_1972
Source – Website: http://www.higher-
ed.org/heus/Important_Events.pdf