Mary Bluford Turner- A Rosie the Riveter By Gladys Turner Finney

Six million women of diverse ages and ethnicity transcended the traditional roles of women to fill industrial and defense jobs during World War II. The appearance of those women dressed in overalls and using industrial tools led to the emergence of a popular icon, “Rosie the Riveter,” proclaiming We can do it.” Rosie the Riveter became symbolic of all women who worked in the war-time industries. Opened in 2000 in Richmond, California, Rosie the Riveter Memorial is situated on the site of the former Kaiser Shipyard #1. It is a national monument honoring women’s labor on the home front during World War II. It commemorates and documents the contributions women made towards the war effort, its success and victory. The location of the Memorial is significant. The Kaiser Shipyards, the largest and most productive , produced 747 ships at Richmond during World War II. Women of different ages, races and backgrounds came to Richmond to find jobs throughout the war. It is estimated that women made up more than twenty-five percent of the workforce at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyard. In other industries women represented up to eighty percent of the workforce. Many African-American women were employed in war service industries. Among these was my twenty-seven year old mother, Mary B. Turner. She balanced the duties of wife, mother, and Munitions Handler at the Pine Pluff U.S. Army Arsenal in Arkansas . Mary B. Turner’s war service appointment began on July 13, 1943. She was issued Identification Badge 12-P8230 and hired as a G-4 Civil Service Worker, earning fifty-four cents an hour. She was assigned to the “graveyard shift,” 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. My father, Willis J. Turner, worked at the Cotton Belt Railroad Shop at Pine Bluff and was my caretaker while my mother worked. Mary B. Turner worked alongside other African-American women on the bomb assembly line, supervised by white males. Working in this environment was dangerous. Any mishap could cause death or injury. This was a Bomb Factory. And in deed there were accidents and serious injuries. Mary B. Turner escaped without injury. Her employment help transform the family from the rank of renter to homeowner and enabled me to attend a Catholic parochial school. Mary B. Turner’s service at the Pine Bluff Arsenal ended on September 16, 1945. The war was over. Japan had surrendered. Her war service is included in the “Rosie the Riveter Memorial.” Sources: (1) Mary B. Turner papers, (2) Personal Files of Gladys Turner Finney, (3) “Rosie-the Riveter, “ Memorial website-(www.rosietheriveter.otg). Reprinted from The African American Genealogy Group of the Miami Valley (AAGGMV) Newsletter, Volume 5, Issue 2, # April 2006, p. 6.

2025 Recipients Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

2025 Recipients Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff Dr. Gladys Turner Finney Hawulethu Ndlovu and Matanda Hillary Phiri are the 2025 recipients of Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship at UAPB. Ndlovu is a Junior, majoring in mathematics . He is from Zimbabwe. His goal after graduation “is to enter the business consulting industry and to significantly impact the sector.” Phiri is a junior at the University, majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. Originally from Lusaka, Zambia, her long-term goal is “to develop innovative solutions that positively impact society. The Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship was established in 2022 to provide financial support to encourage and assist students to pursue collegiate degrees in Mathematics and Science. Band students were later added because Professor Corbin organized the first Band and the first choir. The scholarship was established in 2022 by Dr. Gladys Turner Finney.

The National Park Service Approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National Historic Site

The 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!

The National Park Service Approves Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite a National Monument

The 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!

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.

AAGGMV NEWSLETTER ARTICLES BY GLADYS TURNER FINNEY

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.

Dr. 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

Union Baptist Church & Joseph Carter Corbin

Union Baptist Cemetery & Joseph Carter Corbin

Give 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

Family Members Buried at Randolph-Damacus Cemetery, Grady, Lincoln County, Arkansas Without Headstones

By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney

Mary Inez ("Arned) Williams Scoggins
B.D. July 28, 1897
D.D. September 8, 1947

Adward Williams
B.D.
D.D. September 8, 1957

Drucilla Turner West
B.D. March 24, 1884
D.D. October 16, 1955
Burial Date: October 21, 1955

Robert Turner
B.D. October 24, 1913
D.D. October 24, 1986

Emma Lee Turner Glanton
B.D. June 23, 1895
Burial Date June 8, 1974

Savannah Dozier Bluford
B.D. March 20, 1876
D.D. January 24, 1966

Cora Taylor Williams
B.D January 1, 1876
D.D September 8, 1957

Thurman Jones
 B.D. 1903
 D.D. Unknown Waterbury, Ct.

 Margaret Bluford Donaldson
 B.D. May 8, 1918
 D.D. May 21, 1987
 Burial Date May 27, 1987

 Robert Donaldson
 B.D. July 15, 1915
 D.D July 22, 1981
 Burial Date: July 27, 1981

  Chester Lee (Johnson) Bluford,   B.D.December 13, 1897,   D.D. April 8, 1993,   B.D. April 14, 1993.

Donor Pledge for Professor Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship at University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff

DONOR 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

Professor 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.

Social Work and Economics

This 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.

Notable University of Arkansas At Pine Bluff Graduates

Wiley 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, Arkansas

Opinion and Thoughts About U.S. Reparation for Slavery By Dr. Gladys Turner Finney

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.

Joseph Carter Corbin Memorial Scholarship-The Ohio University Foundation

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/

Stolen Congressional Election (1888 Plumerville, Arkansas) Leads to Unsolved Murder of John Middleton Clayton

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