Joseph Carter Corbin 19th Century Educator Memorial Headstone Dedication May 27, 2013

Forest Park, Illinois---- The dedication of a new headstone for Professor
Joseph Carter Corbin, erected at Forest Home Cemetery, 863 Des Plaines Avenue,
will begin at 12:00 Noon Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, at the gravesite,
West Front, Section F, Lot 44. The public is invited.

The grave was unmarked until now. The inscription honors Professor Corbin as
the founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the father of higher
education for African Americans in Arkansas, and his "gift of education to
countless generations."

The headstone was erected by the Joseph Carter Corbin Headstone Project;
co-sponsored by the Black History Commission of Arkansas,
and Alumni and Friends of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

The speaker will be U.S. Congressman, the Honorable Danny Davis, who
represents Illnois 7th District, including Forest Park, and is a 1961 graduate
of AM&N College, (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).

Joseph Carter Corbin  

Born March 26, 1833 in Chillicothe, Ohio, Joseph Carter Corbin was an
American Educator, scholar, linguist, mathematician, and musician.
At the age of seventeen, he enrolled at Ohio University, and three years
later received the B.A. degree in Art. Later, he would earn two master's
degrees from Ohio University (1856 and 1889). He is one of Ohio
University most scholarly graduates of the mid 19th Century. "In later
years the Ph.D. degree was conferred upon him by a Baptist College
in the South."

Corbin migrated to Arkansas in 1872. Later that year, he ran and was
elected State Superintendent of Public Education on the Republican
ticket. In this position, he served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the newly-formed Arkansas Industrial University (now the University of
Arkansas at Fayetteville). It was during this time that he recommended
a college "for education of the poorer classes." In 1875, Corbin became
founder and principal of Branch Normal College (predecessor of A.M.&N.
College and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) where he served
until 1902. He then became principal of Merrill High School. He was a leader
in the public education movement and Prince Hall Masons in Arkansas.
Dr. Corbin died January 9, 1911 in Pine Bluff and was interred January 14, 1911
at Waldheim German Cemetery, now Forest Home.

Directions to Forest Home Cemetery

From East take Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway (290) to Harlem St. (left lane
Exit); Right on to Harrison; Left on Des Plaines Ave. (cemetery on right).

From West take Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway (290); Exist Des Plaines Ave.

           Sponsored in part by the Black History Commission of Arkansas