Celebrating 135 Years of the Second Morrill Act: The Enduring Legacy of the 1890 Universities

On August 30, 1890, some 23 years after the end of Reconstruction, Congress enacted the Second Morrill Act, a landmark in American higher education. Its impact continues to resonate one hundred thirty-five years later. 

When the first Morrill Act of 1862 was enacted, one year and one month after Dr. G. Dale Wessoneleven southern states seceded from the Union, its intent was laudable, i.e., to open the doors of higher learning to the “sons of the soil,” farmers, mechanics, and working families. Its implementation was incomplete. In the southern states that had recently rejoined the Union, that phrase was narrowly defined, excluding the very people who had labored on the land the longest: the formerly enslaved Africans.

With agriculture at the peak of its political ambit, the Second Morrill Act sought to correct this injustice by granting federal appropriation to all Land-Grant institutions. However, it required states that refused to integrate their 1862 Land-Grant colleges to create separate institutions for African Americans as a precondition of receiving federal funds. The 1890 Land-Grant universities emerged from this mandate - born of exclusion but destined to become champions of inclusion.

The 1890 universities have far exceeded the modest vision of their origins, becoming leaders in all areas of academia: research, teaching, and community engagement.

- Scientific Research and Innovation. North Carolina A&T State University has become the nation’s top producer of Black engineers. Tuskegee University has shaped advances in veterinary and animal science, food safety, and human nutrition. Florida A&M University (FAMU), through its Centers for Biological Control, Viticulture, and Water Resources, has strengthened national priorities in agriculture and sustainability. FAMU led all HBCUs in non‑medical research and development funding, reporting $59.3 million in R&D expenditures and $75.5 million in total awards for 2021–2022, according to its 2024 Accountability Plan (based on NSF HERD data) 

- Extension and Community Engagement. The 1890s run extension programs in dozens of counties, equipping small farmers with sustainable practices, providing nutrition education to families, and helping entrepreneurs grow businesses. These efforts bring research-based solutions directly to underserved communities.

- Workforce Development. Collectively, the 1890 universities graduate thousands each year in agriculture, STEM, health sciences, and education. Many are first-generation college students whose upward social and economic mobility transforms their lives and their families’ and communities’.