tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40705492810566805242024-03-12T20:05:54.601-07:00Visited By an AngelGT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-59132941395909669152024-01-25T09:01:00.000-08:002024-01-25T09:01:07.215-08:00The National Park Service Approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National Historic SiteThe National Parks Service approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National Historic Site
Thanks to the work of Dr. Gladys Turner-Finney for locating the gravesite, writing a biography and, once again, bringing the legacy of the late Joseph Carter Corbin to the forefront of our minds. The National Parks Service approved the Dr. Joseph Carter Corbin gravesite a National Historic Site on April 17, 2023. This May 1, 2024 the historic Plaque will be unveiled at Forest Home Cemetery just outside of Chicago, Illinois. All are welcomed.
Dr. Turner-Finney was able to obtain this exceptional honor, not usually given to gravesites, because of the fury of activity around her research and the promotion of famous individuals and groups found in the Forest Home Cemetery by the Forest Park Historical Society. Joseph Carter Corbin, born in Chillicothe, Ohio, was elected the first African--American Superintendent of Instruction in the State of Arkansas during reconstruction. He is the father of higher education for African-Americans in Arkansas. He is the founder and first president of Pine Bluff Branch Normal College for the formerly enslaved (now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).
During this Black History Month, let us celebrate the legacy and memory of Professor Joseph Carter Corbin. His dedication to educating ALL students in Arkansas and laying the foundation for higher education that has made an ever-expanding positive impact on that state and this nation!
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-15107409574812053052024-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:002024-01-11T07:54:20.388-08:00The National Park Service Approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National MonumentThe National Parks Service approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National Monument
Thanks to the work of Dr. Gladys Turner-Finney for locating the gravesite, writing a biography and, once again, bringing the legacy of the late Joseph Carter Corbin to the forefront of our minds. The National Parks Service approved the Joseph Carter Corbin gravesite a National Historic Site on April 17, 2023. This May 1, 2024 the historic Plaque will be unveiled at Forest Home Cemetery just outside of Chicago, Illinois. All are welcomed.
Dr. Turner-Finney was able to obtain this exceptional honor, not usually given to gravesites, because of the fury of activity around her research and the promotion of famous individuals and groups found in the Forest Home Cemetery by the Forest Park Historical Society. Joseph Carter Corbin, born in Chillicothe, Ohio, was elected the first African--American Superintendent of Instruction in the State of Arkansas during reconstruction. He is the father of higher education for African-Americans in Arkansas. He is the founder and first president of Pine Bluff Branch Normal College for the formerly enslaved (now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).
During this Black History Month, let us celebrate the legacy and memory of Professor Joseph Carter Corbin. His dedication to educating ALL students in Arkansas and laying the foundation for higher education that has made an ever-expanding positive impact on that state and this nation!
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-35608813028814258732023-10-12T08:09:00.000-07:002023-10-12T08:09:30.140-07:00 A Street Named for Joseph Carter Corbin: Founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney Second Avenue in Pine Bluff was renamed Joseph C. Corbin by a Resolution by the
City Council as part of Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Day celebrating the sesquicentennial
founding of UAPB.
At the Unveiling Ceremony, September 26, 2023 (1:00 P.M.), at the original site of the college,
Second Avenue and Oak Street, the speakers were Dr. Gladys Turner Finney,
Caleb Williams, representative of UAPB Student Government, and Senator Stephanie Flowers.
Professor Joseph Carter Corbin opened Branch Normal College, the predecessor of UAPB on September
27, 1875 in a rented house at present day Second and Oak Street with seven students, age 9 to 15, none of whom could read beyond the third grade reader. Throughout his twenty-seven year tenure at the college, he maintained a preparatory school along with the collegiate.
Professor Corbin changed the course of history in education in Arkansas for African-Americans.
He produced the first African-Americans with Bachelor of Arts degrees in the state. He was a
leader at both the collegiate and secondary level. He magnified Pine Bluff as a center of learning
for African-Americans.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTNe9JYRQFrojQe1Kjz-fQ6brlyGoR4cyAGFlVUX3xX1Dg1VbudXFv9vjMhihVpiHv03ZUzKPXdLbkArYy2UlJ4FAL0UuFoBI7rufnToTetD9E-TFxVLZlPxwlJ5MMRGBqcbuXiE7XPQTyVOKyispbH4ygWkx9_v7uNGlPpnPHV7EG0Z6xovEapZR7ec/s640/IMG_3033.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTNe9JYRQFrojQe1Kjz-fQ6brlyGoR4cyAGFlVUX3xX1Dg1VbudXFv9vjMhihVpiHv03ZUzKPXdLbkArYy2UlJ4FAL0UuFoBI7rufnToTetD9E-TFxVLZlPxwlJ5MMRGBqcbuXiE7XPQTyVOKyispbH4ygWkx9_v7uNGlPpnPHV7EG0Z6xovEapZR7ec/s200/IMG_3033.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hZwD9xQuu9fbP8keidCoaVIiishgmd4kCpW3f2M4IiH-GHbjcy-TfT1SvOoTT69FzhX0oCskbJRUVH1t2_zEJ5tonr4Kd2ydedyyy5sTYiV0WFV-WFmCdAN8u4yVl5omaej93SoaRBusdDHwHENE2u3m441-n51aFm2-VCFJjStED-jLsfs-x7qsLmI/s640/IMG_3023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hZwD9xQuu9fbP8keidCoaVIiishgmd4kCpW3f2M4IiH-GHbjcy-TfT1SvOoTT69FzhX0oCskbJRUVH1t2_zEJ5tonr4Kd2ydedyyy5sTYiV0WFV-WFmCdAN8u4yVl5omaej93SoaRBusdDHwHENE2u3m441-n51aFm2-VCFJjStED-jLsfs-x7qsLmI/s200/IMG_3023.jpg"/></a></div>
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-83482797727857420982023-07-13T06:54:00.003-07:002023-07-13T06:54:53.608-07:00AAGGMV NEWSLETTER ARTICLES BY GLADYS TURNER FINNEY<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgysjoNuQsa4_q7oRWBT4NAOjy8Vz1dBXJvB9SZg_yw-1LhdIjAivrhz0NdAgDW9l3chuGQrARaBCUW6uqQjM8c5Igp71iWk_mwqcvwrt7fZBziL-kNKKPBXuZXYnT1yzu5E-55IJFOndkKTxs7gu7lpKk_mekB-YEQAwX1sKJZsdxZGRydwHSWgn6zEWY/s3506/AAGGMV%20nwesletter%20by%20Gladys%20Finney.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3506" data-original-width="2481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgysjoNuQsa4_q7oRWBT4NAOjy8Vz1dBXJvB9SZg_yw-1LhdIjAivrhz0NdAgDW9l3chuGQrARaBCUW6uqQjM8c5Igp71iWk_mwqcvwrt7fZBziL-kNKKPBXuZXYnT1yzu5E-55IJFOndkKTxs7gu7lpKk_mekB-YEQAwX1sKJZsdxZGRydwHSWgn6zEWY/s600/AAGGMV%20nwesletter%20by%20Gladys%20Finney.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vXN-a28R0QO_b0T8seh3BH5_c3O0u4B2qE4qMiOf8rjnidrX-JW65vlaWmniQIb26odSpTwIH1_cCPoMr3AWHYOegdONVl7GDxojVoAUnrmoBKNAl6FrjUwSqTgzwPAMzls__n-r6k3wj4raBcew12Chs97g1t5LwyNa7vj6qIvUNYj6FwB0_klmsl0/s3506/AAGGMV%20Newsletter%20by%20Gladys%20Finney.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="3506" data-original-width="2481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vXN-a28R0QO_b0T8seh3BH5_c3O0u4B2qE4qMiOf8rjnidrX-JW65vlaWmniQIb26odSpTwIH1_cCPoMr3AWHYOegdONVl7GDxojVoAUnrmoBKNAl6FrjUwSqTgzwPAMzls__n-r6k3wj4raBcew12Chs97g1t5LwyNa7vj6qIvUNYj6FwB0_klmsl0/s600/AAGGMV%20Newsletter%20by%20Gladys%20Finney.jpg"/></a></div>GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-71633301437789706542023-06-22T06:35:00.003-07:002023-06-22T06:36:08.793-07:00 Professor Joseph Carter Corbin’s Story Continues 150 Years in the MakingFrom 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.
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-13674306185227372102023-06-15T07:38:00.000-07:002023-06-15T07:38:23.365-07:00PROFFESOR 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.
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-12672958123500603092023-05-18T07:59:00.000-07:002023-05-18T07:59:58.449-07:00Dr. Gladys Turner Finney And Donors Create the Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Endowed Scholarship at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB)The Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship recognizes Professor Corbin for his
extraordinary achievements in Education, the founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and
the creator of the first Artium Baccalaureus (AB) degrees for African-Americans in Arkansas.
Professor Corbin was an Educator, Journalist, Mathematician, Scholar, Linguist, and Musician.
He held AB and two masters’ degrees from Ohio University at Athens.
The scholarship will support students in mathematics and the sciences.
Ways to Give
1. Give by check payable to UAPB Foundation Fund
In memo write: Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship
Mail to: UAPB Office of Development, 1200 North University Drive
Mail Slot 4981, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71601
2. Give on line at www.uapb.edu/give (go to other and write in name) or call 870-5758701
3. Give by mobile phone.(TextUAPB19 to 41444)
THANK YOU FOR GIVING
Dr. Gladys Turner Finney, Class of 1957
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-61387969964436187002023-01-12T07:19:00.001-08:002023-01-12T07:19:46.390-08:00Union Baptist Church & Joseph Carter Corbin<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxGOiTpTkihnlJzKRWX1u5wuG7VEvOKWtqgR0o70cici2cNNK0lwPIH30nArQbRs_c5jSwK1XeKl4bdTWm3meyXXbsHuG8KdlyIJcGmjhce0TJYiG7IAcYAECpBYzZbE929EUkxtVk8EtdZGyukOQoH2UXTgcp5fP67gqmwEmqHiXLJB-oLvdvKyH/s3506/Union%20Baptist%20Church%20&%20Joseph%20Carter%20Corbin.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="2481" data-original-width="3506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxGOiTpTkihnlJzKRWX1u5wuG7VEvOKWtqgR0o70cici2cNNK0lwPIH30nArQbRs_c5jSwK1XeKl4bdTWm3meyXXbsHuG8KdlyIJcGmjhce0TJYiG7IAcYAECpBYzZbE929EUkxtVk8EtdZGyukOQoH2UXTgcp5fP67gqmwEmqHiXLJB-oLvdvKyH/s600/Union%20Baptist%20Church%20&%20Joseph%20Carter%20Corbin.jpg"/></a></div>GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-52781699175518723722023-01-12T07:16:00.000-08:002023-01-12T07:16:09.037-08:00Union Baptist Cemetery & Joseph Carter Corbin<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcJ4FG4LuIKc3MZCHryiyu2HZomS_OsfPEKkIiGMvsZhCDIgnkVmCKetqof-OllKzMdOLxN6AAEr9BnyTC0pgvQ_E8_DYDAZ4NaePh1dSS2EOdqESwhGFB5dXNfGcVSQIcFyfbmlCZoUEF_ZRXgF_KJafjnKSpT42lcEyCQy0i7mepXG5q1_3hwNx/s3506/Union%20Baptist%20Cemetery%20&%20Joseph%20Carter%20Corbin.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="2481" data-original-width="3506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcJ4FG4LuIKc3MZCHryiyu2HZomS_OsfPEKkIiGMvsZhCDIgnkVmCKetqof-OllKzMdOLxN6AAEr9BnyTC0pgvQ_E8_DYDAZ4NaePh1dSS2EOdqESwhGFB5dXNfGcVSQIcFyfbmlCZoUEF_ZRXgF_KJafjnKSpT42lcEyCQy0i7mepXG5q1_3hwNx/s600/Union%20Baptist%20Cemetery%20&%20Joseph%20Carter%20Corbin.jpg"/></a></div>GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-3195790835252583012023-01-12T06:54:00.001-08:002023-01-12T06:54:56.807-08:00Give to UAPB Founder Memorial Scholarship PROFESSOR JOSEPH CARTER CORBIN DAY
SEPTEMBER 27, 2023
SESQUICENTENNIAL FOUNDER CELEBRATION
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF
WON’T YOU PLEASE HELP?
TO ENDOW
THE UAPB PROFESSOR JOSEPH CARTER CORBIN
MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
For mathematics and science majors
Ways to Give
1. Give by check payable to UAPB Foundation Fund
In memo write: Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship
Mail to: UAPB Office of Development, 1200 North University Drive
Mail Slot 4981, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71601
2. Give on line at www.uapb.edu/give or call 870-5758701
3. Give by mobile phone.(TextUAPB19 to 41444)
THANK YOU FOR GIVING
Dr. Gladys Turner Finney
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-17212046401138188942023-01-02T14:50:00.000-08:002023-01-02T14:50:09.797-08:00Family Members Buried at Randolph-Damacus Cemetery, Grady, Lincoln County, Arkansas Without Headstones<br />
By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Mary Inez ("Arned) Williams Scoggins<br />
B.D. July 28, 1897<br />
D.D. September 8, 1947<br />
<br />
Adward Williams<br />
B.D.<br />
D.D. September 8, 1957<br />
<br />
Drucilla Turner West<br />
B.D. March 24, 1884<br />
D.D. October 16, 1955<br />
Burial Date: October 21, 1955<br />
<br />
Robert Turner<br />
B.D. October 24, 1913<br />
D.D. October 24, 1986<br />
<br />
Emma Lee Turner Glanton<br />
B.D. June 23, 1895<br />
Burial Date June 8, 1974<br />
<br />
Savannah Dozier Bluford<br />
B.D. March 20, 1876<br />
D.D. January 24, 1966<br />
<br />
Cora Taylor Williams<br />
B.D January 1, 1876<br />
D.D September 8, 1957<br />
<br />
Thurman Jones<br />
B.D. 1903<br />
D.D. Unknown Waterbury, Ct.<br />
<br />
Margaret Bluford Donaldson<br />
B.D. May 8, 1918<br />
D.D. May 21, 1987<br />
Burial Date May 27, 1987<br />
<br />
Robert Donaldson<br />
B.D. July 15, 1915<br />
D.D July 22, 1981<br />
Burial Date: July 27, 1981<br />
<br />
Chester Lee (Johnson) Bluford,
B.D.December 13, 1897,
D.D. April 8, 1993,
B.D. April 14, 1993.
<br />GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-27617025237048121942022-09-29T08:04:00.000-07:002022-09-29T08:04:00.575-07:00Donor Pledge for Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship at University of Arkansas-Pine BluffDONOR PLEDGE FORM
Please return to Dr. Gladys Turner Finney
gtturnerfinney@gmail.com
Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Day
September 27, 2023
Sesquicentennial (150 Year)
Founding of Branch Normal College, now
University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff
Donor Pledge Amount_________________
To establish the Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship at the University of Arkansas at
Pine Bluff. To memorialize Professor Corbin, an educator extraordinaire, who produced the first African Americans in Arkansas with Artium Baccalaureus (AB) degrees, and the founder of the University of
Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Name___________________________
Address__________________________
Phone____________________________
On -line Giving: Uapb.taforms.net/
UAPB Office of Development: development@uapb.edu
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMYUGN4wl_56h12_FRAil8yoVkArMnVgOeGiCC-qHHnkpJniPCIdtXL9g9EMHvgvIS6jghVCx3g3Ud2g3H1ykerbR7vapVdnwIlRMpsRtzctWVhUTV1qegP_twi7FIOroKbdtBwtmhXAapT2ZL3PrsxqeNJ_DuBwndU2-00y860uZCLGBOGDntQii/s2040/Corbin%27s%20Portrait.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1655" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMYUGN4wl_56h12_FRAil8yoVkArMnVgOeGiCC-qHHnkpJniPCIdtXL9g9EMHvgvIS6jghVCx3g3Ud2g3H1ykerbR7vapVdnwIlRMpsRtzctWVhUTV1qegP_twi7FIOroKbdtBwtmhXAapT2ZL3PrsxqeNJ_DuBwndU2-00y860uZCLGBOGDntQii/s320/Corbin%27s%20Portrait.jpg"/></a></div>GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-16987962506301526012022-07-07T07:06:00.000-07:002022-07-07T07:06:00.446-07:00Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Day: Sesquicentennial Celebration PROFFESOR JOSEPH CARTER CORBIN DAY
SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
Dr. Gladys Turner Finney
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, at the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Library. 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, earning an A.B. degree and two masters 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 (A.B.) 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 which it prepares for careers that serve the nation. It contributes greatly to the economy of Pine Bluff.
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-82181514469749426302021-08-12T06:58:00.000-07:002021-08-12T06:58:49.775-07:00Social Work and EconomicsThis article was a draft I recently found while going through old papers, a task engaged in during
this Pandemic time.
The article, “Economics and social work: a neglected relationship” by Alfred N. Page (January, 1977) provides an opportunity for social workers to reflect, and hopefully, consider the relationship of the discipline of economics to the profession of social work. I do think that Professor Page understates the case in that a relationship does exist at present. The problem is that social workers very often choose to ignore the relationship. This causes a disadvantage to the social work profession because the economists are very much aware of the relationship.
One problem that Professor Page does not bring out clearly is that social work tends to be an “action” or problem solving direct service profession based upon value theory, while much of economic practice is based upon “empirical theory.” This causes the most common “clash” between the disciplines, with the social work discipline being the loser. Social work loses because economists do have values and these values are more than in pecuniary terms. More often their values are in political terms. Herein lies the real problem!
Economists are more often the formulators of social policy than social workers. They do this because economists of nearly every political persuasion are political activists. The discipline allows them to operate from a research and theoretical base to influence business and government. It is significant that in the Carter Administration, Messrs. Bluementahl Treasury), Harold Brown (Defense), Marshall (Labor), Mrs. Krebs (Commerce), Schultze (Council of Economic Advisors), and Schlesinger (Energy) are economists. This trend has been consistent from the Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt with the exception of the Nixon and Ford years.
Professor Page’s contention is that “an inherent relationship between social work and economics” is much stronger than it appears on the surface.” This should have special consideration for social work administrators and social work practitioners. To be effective as policy makers, for example, requires social workers to be cognizant of the laws of economics, particularly in regards to resources. Very often social workers have the reputation of not being attentive to details of economic scarcity. This is further intriguing because social work has a set of values that purport to be the foundation for the profession.
Just to deal with the values as summarized by Page (there are others, of course) without dealing with attendant costs and economic public policy, social workers are required to work in a vacuum, or at least try to go down the river in a boat without a paddle.
The social work caseworker, for example, may find on occasions, unnecessary advocacy is being performed. This is usually “written off” as having to “buck the system.” Usually what has occurred is that the social worker is running into a conflict with economic policy established at another level because the “values” of the social worker and the client differ from the “values” of the policy maker who in turn is relying on an economic principle.
I do believe that Professor page inadvertently misleads in his appraisal of economists John Kenneth Galbraith and Kenneth Boulding when he note that “what social workers do not realize is the work of these authors is not respected by a majority of the economic profession.”
On the contrary, Galbraith and Boulding are two of the dominant economists in the American Economic Association, American Economic Review, Omicron Delta Epsilon, (the International) Honor Society in Economics), and the American Economists. Certainly, they are read by all economists and allied professionals. What probably would be correct to say is that Galbraith and Boulding do not represent the majority of current economic thinking among economists, but even this may be contradictory because both hold office in the above mentioned organizations, having been elected by their peers.
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-56736149072820869562021-04-09T09:14:00.005-07:002022-02-28T04:57:28.788-08:00Notable University of Arkansas At Pine Bluff GraduatesWiley A. Branton, Civil Rights Attorney,
Danny K. Davis, Congressional Representative, IL-7 District,
Amanda Davis, Missionary to Liberia, 1898,
Lawrence A. Davis, Sr., Educator,
Lawrence A. Davis, Jr., Educator,
Jeff Donaldson, Artist,
L.C. Greenwood, American Football Player,
Dorothy McFadden Hoover, Physicist and Mathematician (NASA),
John Gray Lucas, Attorney,
James “Jimmy” McKissic, Musician, International Pianist,
Samuel Massie, Jr., Chemist,
Ray Jean Jordan Montague, Naval Engineer,
Charlie Nelms, Educator,
Smokie Norful, Gospel Singer and Pianist,
Dr. Samuel Koontz, Surgeon-Kidney Transplant Pioneer,
Pearlie Sylvester Reed, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture,
John W. Walker, Civil Rights Attorney,
Henry Wilkins, III, Arkansas Legislator,
Josetta Wilkins, Educator and Arkansas Legislator,
Jean Edwards, Arkansas Legislator,
Gerald L. Robinson, Judge, Jefferson County, Arkansas
Shirley M. Washington, Mayor, Pine Bluff, ArkansasGT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-44103444221307618122021-03-18T08:38:00.000-07:002021-03-18T08:38:16.988-07:00Opinion and Thoughts About U.S. Reparation for Slavery
By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsbRhKO2HuZGvHAiVT1kH-qM0ZSRqByEYUJJWYF7q7ujKbErXWcsQOeMdVpJNBWiQHm1_p4DxQQ8W987SUH4ximnzZF7zZ1HQknK5u9n4ks8qk0WiQoQTBckUERraaXkzuIP-h8ZboT3Y/s2048/20210306_141319.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsbRhKO2HuZGvHAiVT1kH-qM0ZSRqByEYUJJWYF7q7ujKbErXWcsQOeMdVpJNBWiQHm1_p4DxQQ8W987SUH4ximnzZF7zZ1HQknK5u9n4ks8qk0WiQoQTBckUERraaXkzuIP-h8ZboT3Y/s200/20210306_141319.jpg"/></a></div>
Reparation simply is a redress against a past wrong, grievance, injustice.
The redress may be an acknowledgement, apology,
monetary compensation to the victims, or other socio-economic benefits.
The idea of reparation for slavery is not new. It dates back to Emancipation when the
“freedmen” expected “forty acres and a mule” to help them make the transition
from enslaved people to freedom which never materialized. Had Thaddeus Stevens
prevailed there would have been a different outcome.
I have a say-so on the
matter. I am a descendant of slaves in the United States, the third generation
post slavery. It may be controversial, non-scientific but so are other voices. I
am “African-American” by DNA, history, and culture.
The Grievance as I see it:
For 246 years, 1619-1865, the United States engaged in the most barbaric slavery
in world history that legalized Africans and their descendants as chattel
property. It has failed to fully acknowledge or apologize for its complicity in
a crime against humanity. The United States, its “white citizens” prospered from
free labor which has never been compensated. My argument is the institution of
slavery, Jim Crow, de jure and de facto discrimination, bred
institutional-structural racism and some of the resulting consequences affecting
present day African-Americans are generational poverty, the wealth gap with
“white Americans,” and other disparities.
Slavery in the United States created a
hybrid people, no longer Africans. These enslaved people were never allowed to
assimilate as “Americans,” with resulting effects on self-consciousness as
reflected in the research studies of psychologists, Dr. Kenneth B. Clark and Dr.
Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark.
I do not support the counter arguments against
reparation by those who oppose reparation 1. Slavery has no lasting effects on
present day descendants of slaves. 2. The issue of reparation is divisive,
polarizing: Citizens who were never slave holders should not be forced through
the government to compensate descendants who were never slaves. 3. Racism is not
responsible for African-Americans to be twice as likely to live below the
poverty line than “white Americans.” But “lack of responsibility, sinful/immoral
behaviors, they don’t work hard enough, don’t marry, have babies outside of
wedlock.” 4. The government would not know who to compensate.
There is no
historical data base of United States slave descendants. I reject the counter
argument and narrative that slavery, and ongoing racism do not affect the
economic welfare of “African Americans” as a group. I reject the idea of
“blaming the victims.” Or the idea reparation is not necessary because some
African-Americans have done exceptional well against the odds. The debt still
need to be paid.
I partially agree the government would not know who to
compensate. My slave ancestors did not come as immigrants through Ellis Island,
but in shackles on slave ships. There is no historical data base. Not
surprising! My people were considered non- human beings but property. But there
is the possibility of extrapolation and census records. How does anyone know how
I have been affected or anyone like me who cannot trace their ancestors back to
their homeland because they were stripped of their name, identity, their
heritage? I do not remember anyone asking or anyone caring.
There is a lot of
denial in the United States. Denial of racism, Denial of “white privilege.”
Expectation when you African- American that the “auto back wheels should catch
up with the auto front wheels.” Denial that regardless of education or
profession African-Americans make less than their white peers. Denial of how
government programs after World War II enabled the development of the “white
middle class, such as the GI BILL and FHA which often discriminated against
African-Americans.
The Redress: 1. Passage of HR 40 for a Federal Commission to
explore reparations for descendants of U.S. Slavery is the first step. 2.
Acknowledgement and apology for U.S. complicity in the Transatlantic-Atlantic
slave trade. 3. An accurate rewriting of history of slavery in the United States
and dissemination. And re- education of current day population about slavery and
Jim Crow. 4. Collective monetary compensation paid to Historical Black Colleges
and Universities, and expanded STEM Programs. On August 11, 2002, I attended the
Reparation Rally in Washington, D.C.
I applaud the late Congressman John Conyers
Jr., Representative Shelia Jackson Lee and others who have continued to work for
reparative justice.
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-79658038598777656602021-03-04T09:02:00.000-08:002021-03-04T09:02:15.353-08:00Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship-The Ohio University Foundation
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5N-SX9qj7ocDnuV2DeoaxTTBY1xY_pzq4NzjvMF-LLwrNH4meYHpx98qvKuvgBg9LMd1WhnMBUDQHURjVQGjI3bGx_2a3KeTuHWvilAv4csmjvohds80I_8yRyxek-7qipxXw_pFR26Q/s1500/Joseph+Carter+Corbin+Image.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5N-SX9qj7ocDnuV2DeoaxTTBY1xY_pzq4NzjvMF-LLwrNH4meYHpx98qvKuvgBg9LMd1WhnMBUDQHURjVQGjI3bGx_2a3KeTuHWvilAv4csmjvohds80I_8yRyxek-7qipxXw_pFR26Q/s200/Joseph+Carter+Corbin+Image.png"/></a></div>
The Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship at Ohio University was established to honor
the life and work of Dr. Joseph Carter Corbin, a distinguished alumnus of Ohio University
during the mid 19th century, born in Chillicothe, Ohio to former enslaved parents. Dr. Corbin
is the founder of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the father of higher education
for African-Americans in Arkansas. He was the first African-American to be elected Superintendent
of Education in the state of Arkansas during the Reconstruction Period. The scholarship, established
by Dr. Gladys Turner Finney in 2015, will assist students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
A tax-deductible donation may be given on line at:
Ohio.edu/give:
Click on 'give now.'
There is a button that says 'I want to support.'
Scroll down to 'College of Arts and Sciences.
Click 'Select Fund Designation.'
Scroll down to Joseph Carter Corbin Scholarship.
By Mail: The Ohio University Foundation, P. O. Box 869, Athens, Ohio 45401-9917
(Joseph Carter Corbin Scholarship in check memo).
More information Joseph Carter Corbin:http//:encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/joesph-carter-corbin-1624/<a href="https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/joseph-carter-corbin-1624/"></a>
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-30992284154594749312021-02-28T14:28:00.000-08:002021-02-28T14:28:00.016-08:00Stolen Congressional Election (1888 Plumerville, Arkansas) Leads to Unsolved Murder of John Middleton Clayton<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz5RfEKzOZVJJndHonUP3cVT_Mv5nn1hQhRgJRInhGVik8uJbB9oFH6FPxOVCtqQm8c-99oJTKlHwZhkwSNXqckbvTgB-16dYbIZB_bz0fkAWVk8kPkPb4Qcei9bT-FFjtAZJhKwSJ_g/s415/John+Middleton+Clayton+Picture.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz5RfEKzOZVJJndHonUP3cVT_Mv5nn1hQhRgJRInhGVik8uJbB9oFH6FPxOVCtqQm8c-99oJTKlHwZhkwSNXqckbvTgB-16dYbIZB_bz0fkAWVk8kPkPb4Qcei9bT-FFjtAZJhKwSJ_g/s320/John+Middleton+Clayton+Picture.jpg"/></a></div>Political violence, suppression of African-American vote to gain/retain political office and power has long roots
in U.S. History. Kenneth C. Barnes describes political violence as "the illegal use of force to keep or increase
one's power."
Case in point, the Election of 1888 in Plumerville, Conway County, Arkansas. Armed, masked white men intimidated
voters and "stole at gunpoint the Plumerville ballot box, which contained the majority of the county's Black
Republicians vote."
John Middleton Clayton, a Republican politician/legislator from Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), who had migrated to
the state from Pennsylvania during Reconstruction ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives against
incumbent, Clifton R. Breckinridge, a Democrat.
Clayton lost the electon by a narrow margin, contested the election and went to Plumerville to investigate.
On the evening of January 29, 1889 he was was assassinated at a local boarding house.
After state and federal investigations, Clayton was declared the winner of the election.
John Middleton Clayton was the brother of Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator, Powell Clayton. He represented Jefferson
County Arkansas from 1871-1873 in the Arkansas House of Representatives and State Senate. He also held the
position of sheriff in Jefferson County.
He was a contemorary of Joseph Carter Corbin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, elected in 1872 and
President of the Board of Trustees of Arkansas Industrial University, now the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
They were members of the same political party. Some sources suggest they were friends.
John Middleton Clayton served on the first Board of Trustees of Arkansas Industrial University
when it was charted in 1871. Senator John Middleton Clayton authored the bill in the Arkansas Senate (1873)
that authorized the Arkansas Industrial University to establish Branch Normal College under the care and management
of the Board of Trustees.
Joseph Carter Corbin opened Branch Normal College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, on September 27, 1875
in Pine Bluff with seven students.
Sources:
Who Killed John Clayton? by Kenneth Barnes
Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Wikipedia
Joseph Carter Corbin, Educator Extroardinaire by Gladys Turner Finney
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-72275320455388883662020-05-26T15:17:00.000-07:002021-01-21T09:07:33.876-08:00Oral History Project Midwives of Lincoln County, Arkansas<br />
By Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Mary Hill, Grady<br />
Mamie Freeman, Grady<br />
Ellie York, Yorktown<br />
Carrie Berry, delivered Ora Dean White Donaldson<br />
Mary Whitfield<br />
Hester Collins, delivered Gladys Turner Finney<br />
Mrs. LewisGT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-6833453180939863462020-05-21T10:12:00.000-07:002021-01-21T09:07:26.018-08:00Biography of James "Jim" Bluford<br />
By Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Preface<br />
Researching my Bluford and Turner families was a labor of love. It was my intent<br />
to connect my family from 1870 when African-Americans first appeared in U.S.<br />
Population Census, by name, to my generation. And, so I have done. Perhaps, more<br />
research could have been done, were resources available, as seen on popular television<br />
programs: African-American Lives, Who do you think you are, Researching Your<br />
Roots.<br />
<br />
Only one branch of the Bluford Family was researchable and that was George Bluford,<br />
my maternal great grandfather, who was born in South Carolina about 1866, migrated<br />
to Louisiana, and eventually to Arkansas about 1909.<br />
<br />
I can only imagine how great the the research was hindered by lack of the 1890<br />
Federal Population Census, destroyed by fire. The disconnect of 20 years 1880 to<br />
1900 is a very long time in the lives of families. Many were lost, died or disappeared.<br />
My disappointment was the inability to connect with present day descendants of<br />
other lines of the Bluford Family.<br />
<br />
The oldest family member found on the Bluford Family Tree was Betsey Simkins,<br />
born about 1820 in South Carolina, 200 years ago.<br />
<br />
I had the good fortune to know 3 of 4 of my grandparents and 4 of my great<br />
grandparents. This is a blessing when one consider the impact of slavery on the<br />
African-American family. I represent the third generation post slavery.<br />
<br />
Biography of James "Jim" Bluford<br />
James, "Jim" Bluford is believed to have been born in the state of South Carolina.<br />
The county of his birth is unknown. He is the earliest known progenitor of my Bluford<br />
family. His birth may have been, 1830, 1832 or 1840. His parents and siblings are<br />
unknown, as well as any events pertaining to their lives, birth or death. His wife<br />
Mary Bluford's maiden name is inferred to have been Simkins, based on her mother's<br />
name, Betsey Simkins.<br />
<br />
In 1870, James and Mary, according to the Federal Population Census for South Carolina,<br />
lived in Saluda Division, Edgefield County South Carolina with their children, Jessie 14;<br />
Harry or Horry, 12, Emma 10; Jim 8; Will 6; and George 4.<br />
<br />
Mary Bluford was born about 1840 in South Carolina. There is no history of her family. In<br />
the 1900 Louisiana Federal Population census, she is recorded as "Mary Bliffard," a sixty<br />
year old widow, living in Madison Parish, Ward 4 with her son, his wife Savannah, and two<br />
grandsons, Ebbie and James Bluford. The census worker reported that she was the mother<br />
of thirteen children but only four were still living. George Bluford and his descendants<br />
are the only known descendants of James, "Jim," Bluford and Mary Simkins Bluford.<br />
<br />
It is unknown when and under what circumstances the Bluford Family migrated to<br />
Louisiana from South Carolina and what family members migrated with them. It<br />
seems that James "Jim" Bluford is deceased by the time of the 1900 Louisiana Census.<br />
He is not reported as part of the family. It is also unknown if any other Bluford family<br />
members migrated to Lincoln County Arkansas in 1907 with George Bluford besides his<br />
nuclear family.<br />
<br />
James "Jim" Bluford was born during slavery and the question of his slave master has been<br />
an ongoing matter of research. There were no Blufords listed in the 1850 South Carolina<br />
census records. There were six caucasians, "white," Bluford families listed in the 1860<br />
South Carolina Census. I've been told the Bluford name is "not"common in South<br />
Carolina.<br />
<br />
Not until 2019, I learned a Bluford Plantation existed in Pineville, St Stephens Parish,<br />
now Berkeley County. The Bluford Plantation dated back to the 1700s, owned by<br />
Philip Williams and later purchased by Peter Sinkler. Peter Sinkler died childless and<br />
left the plantation to his sister, Elizabeth Sinkler Dubose and or/her son, William Dubose.<br />
Julian Dubose was the next owner. In 1903 the house was purchased and developed into<br />
a Hunt Club. Library of Congress (HABS-SC-236. South Carolina Historical Society.<br />
<br />
James Bluford Timeline:<br />
Slavery-1830-1863- Bluford Plantation? No documentation.<br />
Berkley County, South Carolina <br />
Post Slavery-<br />
1870-Saluda, Edgefield County, S.C.<br />
1880 Cooper, Edgefield County S.C.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-42996525144370038702020-05-18T12:50:00.001-07:002024-01-04T08:28:01.112-08:00Teachers at Grady Colored School (Arkansas) Oral History Project<br />
By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Mrs. Humphery (President L.A. Davis, Sr. Sister<br />
Mrs. Boulware<br />
Gladys McGill<br />
Bob White<br />
Miss Patton<br />
Mrs. Mamie Holmes<br />
Vesta Johnson<br />
Mrs. Berthala Austin<br />
Miss Emma Bell Lee<br />
Rose Marie Ward<br />
Mrs. Molette, wife of Dr. Molette<br />
Miss Marshall, wife of Dr. Marshall, UAPB Dean of Freshman<br />
Silver T. Holmes Smith<br />
Miss Long<br />
Miss Ruby Phillips<br />
Mr. Jim Phillips (Principal)<br />
Mr. Lawson (Principal)<br />
Mr. Nixon (Principal)<br />
Professor C.F. West (Principal<br />
<br />
Source: Ivory Donaldson<br />
Earnest Donaldson<br />
November 19, 2018<br />
<br />
The Bend School Teachers<br />
Mrs. Alphanie Murphy<br />
Mrs. Ella Moore<br />
Rev McKissic<br />
Mattie Williams<br />
Consolidated with Grady Colored School<br />
<br />
Source: Mrs. Jearline Williams, May 13, 2020<br />
Dr. Charles O. Davidson, May 15, 2020
Additions/> July 13/2021/>
Owen Freeman;
Stanley Scott I;
Mrs. Rennie Bea DeBruce;
Elesteen Pratt, Cafeteria;
Hazel Seale, Cafeteria
Zelda Pearce, Music Teacher;
Mary Harris, English Teacher;
Zeretha Daniels, Elementary Teacher
Mrs. Dorothy Geater
<br/>
Source: Odell Seale
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-54857558628649384562020-05-15T17:39:00.005-07:002021-05-06T08:53:31.946-07:00Professor Samuel Vaster, Educator & Principal, Vaster School, Moscow, Lincoln County, Arkansas<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2hWV5csepxVTedKvTY-XQz7dmh87RBOKXX8Se9c6DQ6WC0rjBYLr6eDxsEdE3rYtZqMgkrMVumLK_SAeJFUhClOP0iDXCITIeUtadVXgIpzeCoP31CTuE85Pr0Hul1OM88VMH-jrI64/s1415/Dr.+Davis+%2526+Samuel+Vaster.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="647" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2hWV5csepxVTedKvTY-XQz7dmh87RBOKXX8Se9c6DQ6WC0rjBYLr6eDxsEdE3rYtZqMgkrMVumLK_SAeJFUhClOP0iDXCITIeUtadVXgIpzeCoP31CTuE85Pr0Hul1OM88VMH-jrI64/s200/Dr.+Davis+%2526+Samuel+Vaster.jpg"/></a></div><br />
Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, Sr. left and Mr. Samuel Vaster, right
<br />
<br />
By Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Since 2002 I had hoped to obtain enough documented material to write an
article<br />
on the esteemed Principal of Vaster School, Professor Samuel Vaster, without<br />
success. Each time I visited my Aunt Earnestine Bluford Johnson who lived on<br />
Bitely Road at Moscow, across from the crumbling school, and whose children<br />
had attended Vaster, the urgency was rekindled.<br />
<br />
Professor Vaster was a respected teacher of African-Americans growing up<br />
in the vicinity of Tamo and Moscow. My earliest recollection of him is<br />
before school age when I walked one day with my maternal aunts Earnestine<br />
and Savannah Bluford and their brother Jerry Bluford to school. It was a long<br />
trek from my maternal grandparents' country farm home. That particular day
the<br />
older kids at recess were playing "pop whip" which did not hold and a number
of<br />
the students collided with me who was on the side line. I remember Professor<br />
Vaster disciplining them. My mom always said the school was five miles
distance<br />
as she had walked it as a child.<br />
<br />
I recalled that every obituary or funeral program mentioned Professor Vaster<br />
including my parents. And so did just about everyone who died from the two<br />
communities of Tamo and Moscow who had attended school under him.<br />
<br />
I do not know the chronology of Vaster School. I believe its precursor may
have<br />
been Union School where I started first grade in 1941.<br />
<br />
The school which became known as Vaster High School during racial segregation<br />
was built on Bitely Road at Moscow and had its demise after the desegregation
of<br />
public schools in Arkansas stood there exposed to the elements and crumbling.<br />
The cornerstone and name were gone. The Jefferson County School District said<br />
it did not know what became of the records. Others surmised that the last
principal<br />
Professor Peter Daniels may have known. I was never able to access Professor<br />
Daniels prior to his death.<br />
<br />
Professor Vaster and the dedicated teachers of Vaster School should not be
lost<br />
to history. Thus, it is my intent to preserve the oral history information I
have<br />
obtained through interviews and other research.<br />
<br />
Telephone Interview: Dr. Charles O. Davidson, December 30, 2017.<br />
Dr. Davidson was at Vaster High School, 1955-56; 156-57 School Years.<br />
<br />
Dr. Davidson graduated from AM&N College (now the University of<br />
Arkansas at Pine Bluff) After Professor Vaster retired, Davidson became<br />
Assistant Vice-Principal to the new Principal, Professor Peter Daniels<br />
School Superintendent was Mr. Dial.<br />
<br />
Primary Grade Teachers:<br />
Miss Mamie Johnson, Miss Johnnie Johnson (sisters)<br />
Mrs. Dorothy Jeters<br />
Miss Evangeline Crawford, 4th & 5th Grades<br />
Mrs. Ruby Daniels (wife of Principal)<br />
Miss Rennie Bea, 1st Grade<br />
Dorothy Kelley, 2nd Grade<br />
<br />
High School Teachers<br />
Mrs. Carrie Gilbert. English<br />
Mrs. Marinda Henderson Buckner, 58-59; 59-60, English<br />
Mr. Charles O. Davidson, Mathematics & Science, Boys Coach<br />
Orange Freeman, Coach<br />
Professor Peter Daniels, Mathematics & Science<br />
DeArthur Grice, Assistant Principal<br />
<br />
Bus Drivers<br />
Roy Collins, Jr.<br />
Otto Hall<br />
Rev. Willie Nolton<br />
Stanley Scott<br />
<br />
Dietitian & Food Service, Ms. Mary Brown<br />
Lunch Program started?<br />
1956 Gymnasium was built<br />
<br />
School operated on a split session, Summer Session<br />
& October to April Session.<br />
<br />
Source: Charles O. Davidson, 12/30/17<br />
James Dade, 5/22/20<br />
<br />
Professor Vaster Masonic & Community Affiliation<br />
"Republican Mass Meeting"<br />
Negro Republicans endorsed R.M. Galbraith for appointment as postmaster<br />
of the Pine Bluff Post Office.<br />
Samuel Vaster, Secretary of meeting.<br />
Daily Graphic, Pine Bluff, April 3, 1921.<br />
<br />
"Leading and distinguished masons 50th Anniversary"<br />
50 years ago the first grand lodge of Colored Masons in the state of Arkansas<br />
was organized in the city of Little Rock. Fourth Grand Master M.A. Clark is the
only<br />
still donating his time. He is in attendance. John H. Johnson was the second.
Professor<br />
Joseph Corbin was the third grand master, 23,000 members. Owns 200,000 real
estate<br />
in Little Rock. Samuel Vaster of Moscow in attendance.<br />
Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, 11 August 1922, p.6.<br />
<br />
"650 Visitors Will Be in City of Ceremonies"<br />
Samuel Vaster of Moscow in attendance.<br />
Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, August 6, 1922, p.7.<br />
<br />
Negro Republicans Endorse Captain R.M. Galbraith for city appointment as
postmaster of Pine Bluff Post Office. The mass meeting was held at the Miller
Theater Building on State Street. Rev. A.W. Winston in attendance. H.M. Thomas,
Chairman; Samuel Vaster was Secretary of Meeting Source: Pine Bluff Daily
Graphic, 03 April, 1921, p. 2. -------------------------------------
<br />
World War I Draft Registration Card, 1917-1918,
Jefferson County Arkansas,
17December, 1880, Black,
FHL, Roll Number 1530467
Draft Board 2
GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-10197323098143809592020-04-21T08:35:00.001-07:002020-06-06T12:32:08.600-07:00Sergeant John H. Corbin<br />
By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney<br />
<br />
Sergeant John H. Corbin was born free in Ohio about 1842. His parents, William Corbin,<br />
born about 1798, and Susan Mordecai Carter Corbin, had been enslaved in Virginia. His mother<br />
was born in 1804 and was emancipated at age nineteen by John Parkhill of Henrico County<br />
Virginia. William and Susan were married, January 23, 1825 in Ross County, Ohio. Susan Corbin<br />
died February 9, 1874 in Cincinnati, Ohio. William Corbin died January 29, 1875 in Cincinnati,<br />
Ohio.<br />
<br />
John H. Corbin enlisted in the military October 16, 1861, at Camp Wood, Fond du Lac,<br />
Wisconsin. He fought as part of the 14th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, Company A.<br />
The 14th Wisconsin was mustered into federal service of the United States, January 30, 1862.<br />
John H. Corbin was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant on August 31, 1862. He reenlisted on December 12, 1863, and was reappointed Quartermaster Sergeant. He was discharged on<br />
October 9, 1865 at Mobile, Alabama.<br />
<br />
The circumstances of how John H. Corbin came to be a member of the Wisconsin Company 14-A<br />
are unknown. "Company F of the 29th Wisconsin Infantry was the only African-American Unit<br />
credited to Wisconsin. It was composed of Black soldiers who agreed to take the place of white<br />
Wisconsin residents. Most came from Illinois or Missouri. A handful also joined from other states"<br />
according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.<br />
<br />
John H. Corbin married Virginia C. Baker on February 8, 1871 in Cincinnati, Ohio. They<br />
had three children.<br />
<br />
He migrated to New Orleans and shortly after his arrival obtained employment as teacher in the public schools. He soon became principal of McDonough School, Number 5. The school was<br />
located in the historic West-bank Algiers Neighborhood.<br />
<br />
John H. Corbin died September 19, 1878 in New Orleans during the Yellow Fever Epidemic<br />
along with his brother, Henry A. Corbin, who had been Private Secretary to Governor P.B.S.<br />
Pinchback. "The high estimate in which he was held by all who knew him was attested by the large number of people who attended his funeral and evinced in their sorrowful faces how deeply they<br />
felt the loss they had sustained." Honorable William G. Brown said of the two brothers in a<br />
condolence to a cousin in Cincinnati: "With different dispositions, straight-forwardness and integrity<br />
will inevitably command esteem."<br />
<br />
After John H. Corbin death, his widow, Virginia C. Corbin, applied for a Civil War<br />
Widow's pension which she received until her death July 4, 1903.<br />
<br />
Sergeant Corbin was the brother of Professor Joseph Carter Corbin, founder of Branch Normal<br />
College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He was the maternal uncle of Cyrus<br />
F. Adams and John Quincy Adams, prominent newspaperman of the late 19th and early 20th Century.<br />
<br />
Sources:<br />
Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume 1, p. 772.<br />
Civil War Widows Pension Application<br />
The New Orleans Weekly, 30 November, 1878, p.2.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-24275383766245570532019-12-31T17:42:00.000-08:002020-01-01T17:22:49.612-08:00My Identity Story<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Lately, I’ve been thinking about my identity after having AncestryDNA which estimated my ethnicity to be 88% African; 48% Nigerian. An earlier mtdna concluded my maternal ancestry was Sierra Leone. I was not surprised and delighted by the results. However, I cannot trace my family to Nigeria or Sierra Leone.<br />
<br />
When I was born in 1935 my Arkansas birth certificate identified me as “C.” for Colored.<br />
The 1940 Census identified me and my parents as Negro.<br />
<br />
My 1955 Arkansas driver’s license when I was nineteen identified me as “colored” as did other documents of that era including my father’s Cotton Belt Railroad pass. I am not exactly certain when my identity changed. I did not self-select these designations and do not remember my parents telling me I was Colored or Negro. So, who told me I was Colored or Negro? Who designated me to be Colored or Negro?<br />
<br />
A “Negro” is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as a “member of the Negroid ethnic division of the human species, especially one of various people of central and southern Africa… characterized by brown to black pigmentation and often by tightly curled hair.” I do have these physical characteristics. I am African by ancestry, history, and DNA. I am certain my ancestral family also came from the Niger Region of Nigeria.<br />
The word Negro is a Spanish and Portuguese term for black.<br />
<br />
I was born in the United States which makes me a national or citizen of the United States of America. My ancestors were enslaved Africans who did not gain U.S. citizenship until the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 after the Civil War.<br />
<br />
The Europeans who colonized and settled the United States of America were not a monolithic “white race” in Europe but transformed themselves into a new national and cultural identity in the United States where being white was superior to Colored, Negro, Black, Brown, Red, or Yellow. Being white meant not “contaminated” by Negro blood.<br />
<br />
The idea that there existed a white superior race of Europeans and a black race of Africans considered inferior and chattel property was well crafted in the origin of the founding of the United States of America. My family was not immigrants. My family did not choose freely to come to the USA to make a new life. My family came enslaved in chains as free labor. They were stripped of their name, origin and language. All of this has made it impossible for me and countless others to trace their ancestry to the shores of Africa, except now through DNA.<br />
<br />
I am also an American because I share the North American Continent with other inhabitants. But the history of race supremacy and power has made this identity synonymous with being from the United States. The internet identifies me as “American.”<br />
<br />
So, who told me I was Colored?<br />
The power of white oppression told me I was colored through Colored Waiting Signs, Colored Water Fountains, and Colored Sections on buses/trains, segregated Colored schools, segregated communities, segregated churches. All of this was dictated by the laws of segregation. My designated identity had nothing to do with my ancestry but to ensure that I stayed in my designated place.<br />
<br />
So, where does the US Census fit in?<br />
<br />
Since 1790, the United States has taken a census every ten years. In 2020 the Census Bureau will undergo this ritual again. The original purpose was to count the population necessary for drawing congressional districts. The population schedule which genealogists and family researchers use to help trace their family history remains confidential for 72 years, unless under special family circumstances. The first Census categories included:<br />
Free white males under 16<br />
Free white males 16 years and upward<br />
Free white females<br />
Other free people<br />
Number of slaves<br />
<br />
“… slavery was no mere accident of history but rather a near universal practice in the Western Hemisphere from the sixteenth century onward to the eighteenth, shaping the very legal foundation of citizenship and property rights, as well as the idea of civilization.”<br />
<br />
For the first six censuses (1790-1840) enumerators recorded only the names of the heads of households. Beginning in 1850, all members of the household were named on the census.<br />
<br />
“Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the United States Census Bureau, are described as self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races, they most closely identify. One may indicate whether or not they are Hispanic or Latino origin (the only categories for ethnicity).”<br />
<br />
The Census currently acknowledge that “the race or races that respondents consider themselves to represent is a social-political construct and generally reflect a social or anthropological definition and takes into account social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry, using appropriate scientific methodologies that are not primarily biological or genetic in reference. The race categories include both racial and national-origin groups.”<br />
<br />
A review of race and ethnicity in the United States Census is informative.<br />
<br />
1820 Census added the term “colored” and number of foreigners not naturalized.”<br />
<br />
1830 Census added number of White persons who were non- naturalized foreigners.<br />
<br />
1850 Census was “first time free persons were listed individually instead of by head of household. The question on the free inhabitant schedule about color was a column left blank if a person was white, marked “B” if a person was black, and “M” if a person was mulatto. Slaves were listed by owner, and classified by gender and age, not individually, and question regarding color was to be marked with a B or M.<br />
<br />
1870 Census was my maternal family entry in South Carolina Census and is the first Census slaves were listed by name. I cannot trace my maternal family prior to this date.<br />
<br />
1890 Census: Enumerators were instructed to write “White, Black, Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian.”<br />
<br />
1900 Census: Enumerators instructed to use a special expanded questionnaire for American Indians living on reservations or family groups off reservation that included “Fraction of person’s lineage that is white.<br />
<br />
1910 Census reinserted Mulatto and asked question about respondent “mother tongue.”<br />
<br />
1930 Census:<br />
Mulatto Classification discontinued.<br />
Interracial persons with white and black blood were to be recorded as “Negro”<br />
No matter the fraction. (The one drop rule).<br />
Mixed Black and American Indian was to be recorded “Negro” unless he was considered to be “predominantly” American Indian and accepted as such within the community.<br />
<br />
Mixed White and American Indian were to be recorded as” Indian” unless his American Indian ancestry was small and he was accepted as white in the community. In all situations in which a person had White and some other racial ancestry, he was to be reported to that race.<br />
<br />
1940 Census:<br />
President Roosevelt sought a “good neighbor” policy with Mexico after a federal judge ruled that three Mexican immigrants were ineligible for citizenship because they were not white, as required by federal law. To circumvent the decision and make sure the federal agencies treat Hispanics as white, all federal agencies were to uniformly classify people of Mexican descent as white.<br />
<br />
1950 Census removed the word “color” from the racial designation.<br />
<br />
1970 Census included “Negro” or “Black.”<br />
<br />
1990 Census “was not designed to capture multiple racial responses, and when an individual marked the Other race option and provided a multiple write in, the response was assigned and coded according to the race written first.” Black-White, White-Black.<br />
<br />
2000 Census defined “White” as a “person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” Black or African American was defined as “a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.”<br />
<br />
I have had strong debates with those who abhor the designation/classification, identity “African-American.” They say they never been to Africa, have no connection to Africa and do not represent the people of Africa. Some wish to be known only as “American.” Others preferred Colored or Negro.<br />
<br />
What term to identify ourselves as an ethnic group has been a matter of debate dating back to the Black abolitionists who identified themselves in African terms, “Sons of Africa, African Lodge, Free African Society, and African Baptist Church.” Some Philadelphia leaders urged Blacks “to abandon use of the word “Colored” and removal of African from our institutions.” Martin R. Delaney said “no people could gain respect unless they retained their identity.”<br />
<br />
An informal survey of friends, relatives, church members regarding their self identification was informative.<br />
One respondent who checked the “Other” box on the Census said he did so “because I don’t know who the hell I am.” The “Other” box was also used by those who considered themselves “bi-racial.” One native born naturalized Nigerian considered himself “Nigerian American.” One respondent who was 55% European according to DNA<br />
with European characteristics, a maternal and paternal great grandfather who were “white, self-identified as “African American.” She said she had been “segregated and socialized to be African American.” She cited an incident when a physician attending her in a hospital refused to accept and write in her medical chart her self identity “African American” and implied that she was mentally ill. She continued by saying her self-identity “African American” is often changed in her records to “white.”<br />
Another respondent said she had been “Colored,” “Negro,” “Black” but now self-identify herself as “Afro-American.”<br />
<br />
A respondent who self identified himself as “bi-racial” said he identifies himself as Black<br />
when binary thinking of the computer does not allow him to be both Black and White and when there is a group benefit or personal benefit such as receiving more scholarship aid. He never checks “Other race because other does not matter.”<br />
<br />
A respondent who self identified himself as “Israelite” who can walk his ancestry from then to now” said “I do not appreciate anyone telling me who I am, I tell them.”<br />
<br />
“When it comes to models of second-class citizenship for non-whites, the United States led the way and the Nazis eagerly followed.” The U.S. government has spent an inordinate amount of time and energy promoting racism defining who is non-white. When the federal government defines citizens’ identity on the basis of skin color it is discriminatory. My ancestral identity is part of my national and personal identity as an African United States person of America.<br />
<br />
How Data on Race and Ethnicity Are Used<br />
The decennial census is required by the Constitution and used to determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, as well as how federal money is distributed to local communities. Today’s Census Bureau markets itself as more than a head count operation but a purveyor of demographic data authorized by Congress that determine how congressional seats are apportioned, how federal dollars are distributed. And oversee federal civil rights compliance for certain demographic groups, programs/statures.<br />
<br />
<br />
Sources: United States Census, Wikipedia.<br />
Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America.<br />
“And He Is Us: The Land of Cotton Meets the Third Reich,” Guy Lancaster, Arkansas Review, Volume 48, Issue 2, August 2017.<br />
Self-reflection.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4070549281056680524.post-34628881068305206142019-10-27T16:33:00.001-07:002019-10-27T16:33:34.469-07:00Bluford Family Reunion<br />
<br />
Trotwood was the site of the Bluford Family Reunion, September 13 to 15, hosted by<br />
Dr. Gladys Turner Finney. Organized around the theme, "Cousins United," the goal<br />
was to unite first cousins of the children of James "Jimmy" Bluford and Chester Lee<br />
(Johnson) Bluford of Jefferson County, Arkansas. Of the 19 original first cousins,<br />
13 still survive, and 8 were able to attend the reunion along with children and grandchildren.<br />
<br />
This was the first Bluford Reunion. The majority had never met. They came from<br />
Arkansas, California, Indiana, and Illinois. The oldest cousin, Dr. Finney, presented<br />
the Bluford Family History. The family is now centered in Chicago.<br />
<br />
The Bluford Family traces its origin to James/ Jim Bluford, born enslaved about 1830<br />
in South Carolina. James/Jim Bluford and his wife, Mary Simkins Bluford had six<br />
children when the 1870 Census was taken in Saluda, Edgefield County, South Carolina:<br />
Jessie (14), Harry (12), Emmer (10), Jim (8), Will (6), and George (4).<br />
<br />
After emancipation, James' son, George, the progenitor of this branch of the Bluford<br />
Family, moved to Madison Parish (Tallulah) Louisiana where his two sons, Ebbie<br />
and James "Jimmy" Bluford were born. George and his two sons migrated to Linclon County, Arkansas around 1908.<br />
<br />
A picnic was held at John Wolfe Park. Reverend Doctor Darryll Young gave the invocation. Recognition was given to the following category: Traveled the farthest, Most grandchildren,<br />
The youngest. Those born in September were saluted with a Birthday Cake. Community<br />
activities were planned.<br />
<br />GT Turner Finneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06628919871300538903noreply@blogger.com0