[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3655-S3656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH CARTER CORBIN

 Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, it is with the greatest pleasure 
that I wish to pay tribute to Professor Joseph Carter Corbin, founder 
and first president of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
  Joseph Carter Corbin, an African-American educator, was born in 1833 
in the town of Chillicothe, OH, to free parents, William and Susan 
Corbin. After earning two master's degrees from Ohio University, Joseph 
Corbin moved his family to Little Rock, AR in 1872, where he worked as 
a reporter for the Arkansas Republican.

[[Page S3656]]

  Corbin quickly became a leader and strong advocate for public 
education in Arkansas. Within a year of moving to Little Rock, he was 
elected State superintendent of public instruction, becoming the 
highest elected African-American official in Arkansas during 
Reconstruction. As State superintendent, he signed the contract for 
construction of University Hall, which would become the first building 
at the University of Arkansas and known today as Old Main.
  Joseph Corbin was instrumental in the adoption of legislation in the 
Arkansas State Assembly to establish Branch Normal College, the first 
African-American institution of higher education in Arkansas. He was 
appointed the first president of Branch Normal College in 1875, a 
position he would hold until his retirement in 1902.
  Professor Corbin died on January 11, 1911, in Pine Bluff, AR. His 
dedication to improving education standards and higher learning in 
Arkansas continues to have a positive impact on our State. The 
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff currently enrolls more than 3,100 
students in undergraduate and postgraduate programs and continues to be 
one of Arkansas's premiere colleges. Arkansas has been fortunate to 
have had an educator of the caliber of Joseph Carter Corbin.

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