University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

March 9, 2026
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University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
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University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

April 25 …

On April 25, 1873 the Arkansas General Assembly authorized the founding of Branch Normal College, which ultimately became known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). It was part of a political compromise to provide a college for Blacks. Economic insecurity of the Reconstruction state government, however, delayed its opening until 1875.

Officially nestled in the “normal” department of Arkansas Industrial University (later the University of Arkansas), Branch functioned separately in accordance with the state’s sanctioned racial segregation, which lasted until well into the 20th century. Its primary objective was educating Black students to become teachers for the state’s Black schools.

Governor Augustus Garland and university officials hired Joseph Carter Corbin as the school’s first principal. A proficient mathematician and talented musician, with Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Ohio University, Corbin headed Branch Normal from 1875-1902, more than a quarter of a century.

The school opened on September 27, 1875, with seven students in attendance. Corbin described the first class as scholastically heterogeneous — one student could read very well, but not write legibly; others knew enough mathematics to cipher through ratios and proportions but were reading at less than first grade level. Just 10 years removed from slavery and with little opportunity for preparatory training, most students entering Branch Normal College needed foundational schooling before they could enter advanced level programs.

In June 1882, seven years since its founding, Corbin reported with great pride that “The first colored student that ever graduated and received a college degree in the State was graduated from Branch Normal College.” Between 1882 and 1895, 10 students would receive the Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1892, Branch Normal was designated a Land Grant Institution under the “separate but equal” provision of the Second Morrill Act of 1890.

It was not until 1927, however, that the school officially separated from the University of Arkansas. At this time is was renamed Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College (Arkansas AM&N). AM&N moved to its current campus location in 1929.

Over 40 years later, in 1972, AM&N re-joined the University of Arkansas System. As a full-fledged campus with graduate study departments, it assumed its current name, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, reflecting its university status.

Since 1988, the University — recognized as a leading research institution in aquaculture studies — offers the state’s only comprehensive program in this field. It supports a growing regional industry throughout the Mid-South (according to the school, aquaculture is a $167 million industry in Arkansas alone and worth approximately $1.2 billion in the Mississippi Delta region). The program added an Aquaculture/Fisheries PhD program in 2012.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff — the oldest and largest HBCU in Arkansas — has produced myriad Black professionals in diverse fields. Notable among them are…

  • Daniel K. Davis, U.S. representative for Illinois’s 7th congressional district (1961);
  • The late L.C. Greenwood, NFL defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1960); and,
  • Smokie Norful (Willie Ray Norful Jr.), American gospel singer and pianist (1995).

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