Professor Joseph Carter Corbin’s Story Continues 150 Years in the Making

From Ohio Conductor on the Underground Railroad to Arkansas Reconstruction Era Superintendent of Public Instruction and founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and NOW Illinois Grave Site at Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, DESIGNATED as National Historic Place, April 17, 2023 by the U.S. National Park Service. Dr. Gladys Turner Finney was the Nominator. See on-line Weekly List2023.04.21-National Register of Historic Places (U.S National Park Service). For the Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Day Sesquicentennial Event, September 27, 2023 please make a donation to the Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship for math and science majors at UAPB- Give on-line, at www.uapb.edu/give (go to Other and write in name). Or mail to: UAPB Foundation Fund University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff 1200 North University Drive #4985 Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71601.

PROFFESOR JOSEPH CARTER CORBIN DAY SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

DATE: September 27, 2023 PLACE: Pine Bluff, Arkansas Purpose: To commemorate Professor Joseph Carter Corbin, founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Father of Higher Education for African Americans in Arkansas. Community Celebration: Free and open to the public, beginning with a Proclamation and Tribute Ceremony with city and state officials at the original site of the college, 2nd Avenue & Oak Street. Plans include exhibits, speakers, newly released documentary on Professor Corbin.There will be a reception with panelists reflecting on Dr. Corbin's contributions to education in Arkansas. ALL ARE WELCOMED. Joseph Carter Corbin (1833-1911) American Educator of African American heritage, Journalist, Mathematician, Scholar, Linguist, Musician. He was born free in Ohio to formerly enslaved parents, William and Susan Corbin, from Virginia. He became one of the most educated men of his day, eaming an A.B. degree and two master degrees from Ohio University at Athens. During Reconstruction following the Civil War, Professor Corbin migrated to Arkansas and in 1872 was elected Arkansas Superintendent of Public Instruction. Recognizing the need for teachers for the 115,000 "freedmen," he help lay the foundation for a public teacher's college for "the poorer class" that would become Branch Normal College of the Arkansas industrial University, now the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Branch Normal College, chartered in 1873, is the predecessor of A.M.&N. College, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Professor Corbin opened Branch Normal College on September 27, 1875 with seven elementary students. During his 27 years tenure as founder and president, he produced the first African Americans in Arkansas with Artium Baccalaureus (AB.) degrees. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is the second oldest public institution of higher education in the state. It is an 1890 Land Grant HBCU and serves a diverse student population. It contributes greatly to the economy of Pine Bluff. To help establish and endow a memorial scholarship to honor Professor Corbin, you may give On -line Giving: Uapb.taforms.net/ or mail UAPB Office of Development: 1200 N University Drive #4981, Pine Bluff, AR 71601.