In 1901 John D. Rockefeller established the General Education Board (GEB) to aid education in the United States "without distinction of race, sex or creed."1 Major colleges and universities across the U.S., as well as many small institutions in every state, received aid from the Board. The emphasis, however, was on education of African-Americans in the South. During that time period, legal and social discrimination (known as 'Jim Crow') limited blacks to employment in farming, teaching, and manual and domestic labor; therefore, the GEB's education programs emphasized industrial and agricultural training.
"Movable School for Negro Farmers and their wives. Opened with 40 present; closed with 150." Montgomery County, Alabama, December 1914
1 Although the GEB was organized earlier, it did not receive its Congressional Charter until 1903.