Essay On Branch Normal College

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) began as Branch Normal College, which sought to accommodate the higher-educational needs of Arkansas’s African-American population. UAPB is the alma mater of such notable figures as attorney Wiley Branton Sr., Dr. Samuel Kountz, and attorney John W. Walker.

State senator John Middleton Clayton sponsored a legislative act calling for the establishment of Branch Normal College, but it was not until 1875 that the state’s economic situation was secure enough to proceed with it. That year, Branch Normal was established as a branch of Arkansas Industrial University, now the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). Its primary objective was educating black students to become

Therefore, a policy was developed that allowed two types of students to enroll and attend: beneficiaries and pay students. The policy provided for each county to send one to fourteen beneficiaries to Branch Normal, and students were appointed by the county judge. Admission required a commitment from each student that he/she would teach in Arkansas for two years after graduation. Pay students were charged a one-time tuition fee for

Childress, who was the first graduate of Philander Smith College. In January 1882, the school was moved into a permanent building with four classrooms. In 1889, Corbin recommended to the governor that vocational and industrial courses be added to the curriculum. The recommendation was approved, and the agricultural and mechanical departments emerged. During the first sixteen years, dormitories for men and women were built, and the faculty was expanded.

The Morrill Act of 1890 made the school a land grant institution for African-American students. Although the act specified equitable division of monies among the white and black schools, Arkansas was allowed to give eight-elevenths to Arkansas Industrial University and three-tenths to Branch Normal.

Corbin spent twenty-seven years as principal of the only tax supported institution of higher education for African Americans in Arkansas. However, after increasing conflict with the board of the school and the state legislature, he was dismissed in 1902. Isaac Fisher succeeded Corbin as principal, and he believed, as did Booker T. Washington, that industrial education was best for African Americans. This caused a shift in the school’s focus. The bachelor’s degree was removed because no faculty members held degrees; no student had received the degree since 1903. The school began to provide only elementary and secondary education