People, Locations, Episodes

Joseph C. Corbin, Scholar, Educator born

Joseph C. Corbin

On this date, we celebrate the birth of Joseph Corbin, born in 1833. He was a Black teacher, editor, and the highest-ranking Black official in Arkansas during Reconstruction.

He was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and since Blacks were excluded from public schools, his parents educated him at fee-paying institutions in the area. He went to Ohio University at Athens and graduated from that institution in 1853. To finish paying for his education, he got a job as a clearinghouse clerk at the Bank of the Ohio Valley, Cincinnati. About this time, he received the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. from his Alma Mater.

In 1872, he went to Arkansas, worked briefly as a reporter for the Little Rock Arkansas Republican, and was elected and served (1873-1874) as superintendent of education. He was the founder and president of Branch Normal College, Arkansas's first African American institution of higher education.

Corbin also taught in Missouri in 1874 but returned to the Razorback state to become principal of Branch Normal College (now the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff) from 1875 to 1902. During this time, all the institution buildings were erected, and a library, physical apparatus, and machinery were purchased. The contract for the university's main building was also signed, and the building was erected while he held the office of the state superintendent.

He was a mathematician who contributed many articles to mathematical journals. He was also well acquainted with six or eight foreign languages. He held numerous teachers' institutes in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He was also an accomplished musician who performed several instruments.

He was also the principal of Merrill Public School in Pine Bluff, AR. On September 11, 1866, he married Mary J. Ward, a native of Kentucky, in Cincinnati. They had six children, but only two survived.

He was a 33rd-degree Mason, secretary of the Colored Freemasons of Arkansas for 25 years, and served one term as Grand Master. Joseph C. Corbin died in Pine Bluff in 1911.

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