Complex sentence: The school was designated one of Virginia's land grant colleges in response to the 1890 Amendments to the Morrill Act, which required that states either open their land-grant colleges to all races or else establish a separate land-grant educational facilities for blacks.
Split into simpler sentences: The school was designated one of Virginia's land grant colleges under federal provisions of the 1890 Amendments to the Morrill Act. These required that states either open their land-grant colleges to all races or else establish separate land-grant educational facilities for blacks.