Locations in Pine Bluff

What did Pine Bluff, the home of Arkansas's public HBCU the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, look like in 1880? Probably not too unlike the small Arkansas town that Huck Finn and Jim visited with the King and a Duke in Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

Then we went loafing around the town. The stores and houses was most all old shackly dried-up frame concerns that hadn’t ever been painted; they was set up three or four foot above ground on stilts, so as to be out of reach of the water when the river was overflowed. The houses had little gardens around them, but they didn’t seem to raise hardly anything in them but jimpson weeds, and sunflowers, and ash-piles, and old curled-up boots and shoes, and pieces of bottles, and rags, and played-out tin-ware. The fences was made of different kinds of boards, nailed on at different times; and they leaned every which-way, and had gates that didn’t generly have but one hinge—a leather one. Some of the fences had been whitewashed, some time or another, but the duke said it was in Clumbus’s time, like enough. There was generly hogs in the garden, and people driving them out.

All the stores was along one street. They had white domestic awnings in front, and the country people hitched their horses to the awning-posts. There was empty drygoods boxes under the awnings, and loafers roosting on them all day long

When writing my article about J. C. Corbin, the nineteenth century mathematician and founding president of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, I was curious about where the college and other buildings were located. I found that it is challenging to figure out where nineteenth century buildings stood. Only a handful of buildings are still standing. Most of Pine Bluff was simple wooden frame houses that have long been torn down (although there are some notable exceptions like the historic courthouse). Worse, addresses weren't numbers in the 1880s, and most of the streets were renamed around 1900. Thankfully, the town layout remains largely the same. With work, I was able to match street names and create the following Google Maps.

What does the map show? First, Pine Bluff has grown a lot over the past hundred-some years. The second location of the college (one of the left-most pinned locations) was the outskirts of the town in 1880. Now this is deep within city limits. 

For the college's first five years, it was run out of a rented home. No dormitories were available to students, so most found private accommodations. Unfortunately, I was only able to identify the home of one student, George W. Bunn. Many of the other student lived at the intersection of "Bell and River," but these streets that I have not been able to identify.

What else? The town had little to offer in terms of culture. There was no library, and while town directory lists three or four bookstores, these were really stores that sold books. Three of the stores, Nelson & Dewoody, Young & Kite and J. H. Scull & Bro., were druggists shops that also school books and stationary along with other items. The closest thing to a bookstore was Samuel Mayer's News Depot. All four businesses advertise that they sell school books (rather than books in general), so presumably their customers were students from local high schools in need of textbooks.

Advertisements from the 1876 Pine Bluff town directory

Another advertisement from the 1876 Pine Bluff town directory 

An advertisement from the 1881 Pine Bluff town directory

The Civil War at a Pine Bluff plantation

Map of Pine Bluff in 1869. The Taylor plantation was along the road circled in red
From Arkansas Digital Archive

In this post, we'll take another look at Pine Bluff, Arkansas during and after the Civil War. The freedman Robert Williams provided detailed testimony about his experience to the federal government as part of a request for financial restitution for provisions taken by the Union army.

The records of testimony that Robert and others gave need to be read critically. In order to receive compensation, Robert needed to not only convince federal officials that he was accurately describing provisions taken, but he also needed to show that he had remained loyal to the Union throughout the war. The federal officials he was speaking to were largely white men from the north who had served as army officers during the war. While they were hostile to the Confederacy and secession, their attitude towards freedpeople was mixed. Former Union soldiers generally hated the institution of slavery, but they also displayed racist attitudes towards freedpeople, viewing them as a "primitive" and often untrustworthy people who had been debased by enslavement. One interviewer described Robert in his records as a "darky witness." Nevertheless, the claim records provide unique insight into the life of freedpeople living around Pine Bluff.

Life at the outbreak of the Civil War

When the war broke out, Robert was in his late twenties and living on the plantation of John Taylor, one of the many plantations surrounding the town of Pine Bluff. He had been "purchased" by Taylor five years earlier. On the Taylor plantation, Robert was a "mechanic," meaning he performed skilled labor that included blacksmithing and sawing timber. He was able to start his own family. He married an enslaved woman named Charlotte, and together they were raising at least two children, their daughters Mary and Alice. 

The Taylor plantation was located about three miles southeast of the town of Pine Bluff, on the lower Monticello road and about two miles from the Arkansas River. The plantation was a large operation. Approximately one-hundred enslaved workers lived there, and they were supervised by John Taylor's family and a hired (white) overseer. Unfortunately, detailed records of the plantation are unavailable, but farming in the region generally focused on cotton and food provisions (potatoes, corn, and hogs).

Robert's enslaver, John Taylor, was an interesting figure. He and his wife had moved to Arkansas from Kentucky, likely to take advantage of the farm land that became cheaply available after the removal of local native peoples. He experienced considerable financial success. Between the land he owned and the hundred-some people he enslaved, he was one of the wealthiest men in the state. Yet he carried himself quietly and with grace. Residents who knew John described him as "quiet" and a "plain unassuming man" who "did not stand on his riches."

Most remarkably, Taylor opposed secession and was a staunch Unionist throughout the war even though a Union victory meant devastating personal financial loss. In general, political sentiments around Pine Bluff were mixed. The region was home to a number of plantations, and many of the planters supported secession and the Confederacy. But also living in the area were a number of committed Unionists.

The most prominent Unionists living in Pine Bluff included Anthony A. R. Rogers, an acquaintance of Taylor's. Rogers was a merchant who had moved to Arkansas from Tennessee in 1854. He was a delegate to the 1861 state secession convention, where he opposed leaving the Union. During the second year of the war (in fall 1862), he was arrested by Confederate officials on a charge of treason and imprisoned in Little Rock. Taylor traveled to the city to support Rogers and even offered to cover Rogers's bond. 

In general, Unionists like Rogers and Taylor were hated by many residents. John Taylor was called "Yankee John" by Confederates. Tensions became particularly bad in fall 1862 when the Union army began threatening Pine Bluff. Confederate forces were stationed near the town, and Taylor refused to provide them with food provisions, going so far as to bury meat that he had in storage in order to hide it from Confederate authorities. When the Confederate government began pressing enslaved workers into service for the war effort, Taylor warned the enslaved people on his plantation and ultimately sent them temporarily twenty miles away to Bayou Bartholomew so they could avoid Confederate officials. Robert Williams managed to avoid Confederate service, but others on the plantation were not as lucky. Lewis Byers was captured by "rebels" and forced to labor in support of the Confederate war effort until he escaped by running away.

John Taylor, himself, was once captured by bushwhackers (irregular Confederate troops). The bushwhackers were concerned that Taylor would report a raid that they were planning to Union forces. They took Taylor twenty miles away from his plantation, but then released him.

Union army forces began nearing Pine Bluff in the fall of 1863. That September, the Union army occupied the state capital of Little Rock after defeating defending Confederate forces. At the request of Pine Bluff residents, Union forces were sent to the town to protect it from the Confederate soldiers and bandits.  Union control of Pine Bluff meant the emancipation of all slaves in the area. To avoid this, most planters fled to Texas with their enslaved workers. Taylor was one of the few who stayed. He not only was aware that he stood to lose his enslaved workforce, but he was candid about this. He told Robert Williams that, "when Federal forces came [Robert] would be as free as [Taylor] was." True to his word, once the Union army took control of Pine Bluff, he told the people he enslaved that they were free, and he offered to employ them for pay if they remained on the plantation. Many of the newly freed workers continued to work for the Taylor family.

A few months after emancipation (in February 1864), Robert Williams reached a labor agreement with Taylor. In exchange for his services as a sawyer and blacksmith, Robert was given the right to farm a forty-acre plot of land known as the "gin field" (because it contained the plantation's cotton gin). On the land, Robert raised hogs and planted corn and cotton, a typical arrangement for a small farmer in Arkansas. 

Confederates were angry with Taylor for supporting the Union. Before they left Pine Bluff, Confederate soldiers burned seventy bales of cotton which they found on Taylor's farm, a major financial loss. Many white residents of Pine Bluff shunned the Taylor family, and they largely socialized with occupying Union army officers for the remainder of the war. John Taylor's wife, Mary, once heard rumors that Confederate soldiers serving under Major-General John S. Marmaduke were threatening to damage their plantation in retaliation for their Unionism, although nothing came of that. 

The Taylor plantation was protected from Confederate soldiers and bandits by Union soldiers living there. A picket of approximately thirty soldiers were stationed during the last years of the war. The soldiers lived in the former home of the overseer, near Robert Williams' farm. 

The Union soldiers were a mixed blessing. While they protected freedpeople and the Taylor family, they also were a considerable burden on households as they requisitioned food provisions. To supplement their rations, the Union soldiers regularly took potatoes, corn, hay, and hogs from the farms on the Taylor plantation. 

In August 1864, the corn Robert was growing became ready for harvesting, and the soldiers took it for food and fodder. Robert filed a complaint with the commanding officer. The officer was sympathetic. He explained that the soldiers needed the corn to supplement their provisions but offered to provide Robert with a receipt. However, before he did so, he and his troops were called away because of a rumored upcoming attack on Pine Bluff. While he was away, the commanding officer fell ill, and Robert never got the requested receipt.

Life after the war

Unfortunately, the information about Robert becomes thin after the Civil War ended. However, we can extract some information about conditions in Pine Bluff in the years after the war. John Taylor died the year after the war, but his wife Mary and children remained in the area. In 1870, Mary was living on the plantation with her mother-in-law and children as well as four Black women, likely woman who had been enslaved as domestic servants by the Taylor family. Robert and the Taylor family appeared to have remained on good terms. Robert remained farming on the Taylor plantation throughout the 1870s, and he testified in support of financial claims made by Mary. Mary and her son, Forman, returned the favor and testified for Robert. 

Robert also remained in contact with a number of the Union soldiers who had been stationed in Pine Bluff. Quite a few stayed in town after the war as civilians. The soldiers were mostly from out-of-state and were trying to start a new life for themselves. The ex-Union soldiers who testified in favor of Robert's claim were James F. Vaughn, James M. Mahar, and Samuel W. Mallory. The three men were originally from Ireland, Tennessee, and New York respectively. In Pine Bluff, Mahar found work as a carpenter. The other two obtained appointed to state and federal government. Mallory served as a superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau and then worked as a lawyer, while Vaughn was county sheriff. Not only did these men confirm that Union soldiers had taken Robert's provisions, but they also attested to his character. Vaughn said that Robert was an "industrious and honest man."

Robert's efforts to obtain restitution were successful, and he was paid approximately three-hundred dollars by the federal government. Beyond farming near Pine Bluff during the 1870s, it is unclear what became of him. In all likelihood, his life likely became quite difficult in 1874. That year much of Arkansas, including Pine Bluff, descended into chaos and political violence. State politician Joseph Brooks had run for governor in 1872, and after losing the election, he challenged the results. His efforts came to a climax in the summer of 1874 when Brooks and a large group of armed supporters took control of the State Capital and declared Brooks the governor. The elected governor, Elisha Baxter, refused to acknowledge this, and his own supporters armed themselves and challenged Brooks. 

In April, Baxter's supporters imposed martial law in Pine Bluff and the surrounding county. They then arrested Sheriff Vaughn and other influential citizens who supported Brooks' claim. The men spent a number of days in jail, but they were ultimately released, and Baxter, under pressure from the president, ultimately withdrew his claim to the governorship in May. The long-term result of his efforts was the destruction of the Republican Party of Arkansas. Conservative democrats took advantage of the disorder to call a constitutional convention. They then proceeded to revise the constitution and then swept the subsequent election. 

The rise of conservative democrats meant a sharp decline in the fortunes of Robert Williams and many of his friends. Ex-planters and Confederate dominated the political party, and their main political goal was to undo the political changes that had taken in the years after the Civil War. Seeing no place for themselves, many of the pro-Union residents and the ex-Union soldiers left the state. Anthony Rogers left for northern California. Options for freedpeople like Robert were more limited. Many lacked the means to move and continued to live and work in Arkansas within an environment that was increasing hostile to freedpeople.

Sources

1. Year: 1870; Census Place: Vaugine, Jefferson, Arkansas; Roll: M593_56; Page: 502A

2. INDEX TO REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. 1874-'75

3. Year: 1870; Census Place: Pine Bluff, Jefferson, Arkansas; Roll: M593_56; Page: 539B

4. Southern Claims Commission

'sivilizing Freedmen in Arkansas: the Branch Normal College

An artist's depiction of the Arkansas river as viewed from Little Rock.
The view from Pine Bluff would have been similar

J. C. Corbin
From Wikipedia

On September 27, 1875, visitors to Pine Bluff, Arkansas could witness a scene that they could well mistake for a malaria-induced hallucination. In the middle of this rough river town in the Arkansas Delta, a scholarly-looking Black man was welcoming students to a newly opened college. That man was J. C. Corbin, a forty-two year old graduate of Ohio University and the founding principal of the Branch Normal College, Arkansas's public Historically Black College.

The mere existence of the college was a remarkable achievement. The college had been created by the state legislature two years earlier. This was a time when the state government was dominated by a Republican Party that strongly supported Black Arkansans. Much had changed in the intervening two years. The Republican party had collapsed in chaos, and political power was gained by conservative Democrats that included the state's former slave-owning elite. The new government rolled back many of the changes enacted by Republicans, but it preserved some measures enacted to support newly freed slaves as a paternalistic gesture intended to "fuse" Black voters with conservative Democratic politicians.

The early history of the Branch Normal College is of interest because it represents an unusual road in the development of higher education for freed slaves. Most HBCUs founded during this era were founded by men with a background either in the military or in missionary work. Fisk University's founding president Erastus M. Cravath was a white pastor affiliated with the American Missionary Association. Howard University was founded by the Union general O. O. Howard. Booker T. Washington, the most famous African American educator of the nineteenth century, was neither a military officer nor a missionary, but he had been mentored by Samuel C. Armstrong, who was both the son of missionaries in Hawaii and a former Union general.

Pine Bluff during the nineteenth century

Pine Bluff was a natural place to provide services for freed persons as the town had become a regional center for Black life. The town is located in the south central part of the state, on the Arkansas river. The surrounding area is part of the Arkansas Delta. In the years before the Civil War, aspiring planters brought large numbers of enslaved workers to the area as the Delta offers superior conditions for cotton-growing.

Census records clearly tell the story of this growth. In 1850, there were just under six thousand people living in the county. Ten years later, at the outbreak of the Civil War, the population had more than doubled to just over fifteen thousand. Throughout this period, just under half (or approximately forty-five percent) of the population was enslaved.

As a river town, Pine Bluff played a central role in this growth. The most efficient mode of transport in southern Arkansas was along a river, so aspiring planters arrived in the town by boat and then, after establishing themselves in the countryside, sent their cotton there to be sold at market. The town grew even faster than the surrounding countryside: the population increased four-fold, from just under three-hundred residents to almost one-thousand four-hundred. 

After the war broke out, the town's population swelled as freed slaves from the countryside went there seeking refuge. The town became a safe haven in fall 1863 when Union troops took control and set up a refugee camp. Soldiers remained there and even maintained an office of the Freedmen's Bureau until spring 1869. By 1870, Black residents represented nearly sixty-five percent of the town's population. This was a dramatic change. Before the war, they had been a substantial presence but never a majority.

The conditions that drew freedmen to the town also made it a challenging place to run a college. While Pine Bluff offered great economic opportunity before the war, it had never been an easy place to live. The town was subject to frequent flooding, and the climate was subtropical with hot humid summers. This made for an unhealthful, malarial environment that forced newcomers to go through a long and difficult period of enduring sickness while they acclimated. 

The war, especially the large influx of refugees, strained Pine Bluff's meagre public infrastructure, so problems with sanitation worsened the already bad public health conditions. Disease ran rampant through the freedmen population, and mortality rates soared.

In the face of these considerable obstacles, Corbin had few resources to support the newly formed college. During the first years, the college was run out of a rented house that also served as Corbin's residence. He was the sole faculty member and was even responsible for menial tasks like cleaning the classrooms. 

Skeptics would have questioned the value of providing Corbin with even this modest level of support. Slaves had largely been deprived of education, and Arkansas had only a negligible population of free persons of color. During the first few years after the war, the Freedman's Bureau and missionary societies had run schools for free slaves, but teachers focused on imparting basic skills like literacy rather preparing students for college. Corbin's own official reports on the college communicates a sense of frustration with the difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified Black students. So, who were the students?

Map of Pine Bluff in 1869. The location of the Branch Normal in 1875 is indicated in red.
From Arkansas Digital Archive

The first students at the Branch Normal College

The first class of students consisted of seven students drawn from Pine Bluff and Drew County (another county located in the delta). The students appear to have come from families of relative privilege. Consider the student Robert Allen. Robert was twenty years old and was living with his parents in Drew County. Robert was born in Arkansas, but his parents had moved from out-of-state (from North Carolina and Virginia). There's no record of Robert's family before the war, but they were almost certainly enslaved. (No free persons of color lived in Drew County in 1860). Robert's father was a wagon maker and a carpenter. These were skilled professions that put the family on firm economic ground and enabled the father to purchase real estate.

Also a member of the first college class was Angeline Vester. Angeline was thirteen years old, much younger than Robert, and had moved from out-of-state. She had been born in Louisiana and had moved to Drew County with her mother and stepfather. The stepfather was a Union veteran (formerly a private in the 98th Colored Infantry), and he likely brought the family to Arkansas to take advantage of the availability of farm land. By the time Angeline began her studies, the family was running a farm.

Pine Bluff in 1908
The location of the Branch Normal College in 1883 is indicated by the light blue dot.
From the Library of Congress

The Branch Normal College in the 1880s

The college graduated its first student in 1882, seven years after it opened. A second student graduated the following year. Both students, James C. Smith and Alice A. Sizemore, remained at the Branch Normal to work as teachers, the first ones Corbin hired. Both were in their earlier twenties, so they had little direct experience with enslavement, but they had grown up around people who did. No information about Alice's background is available, but James seems to have come from a background similar to that of Robert Allen. James was born in Arkansas, but his parents had moved from out-of-state (from North Carolina, likely forcibly by an enslaver). His father worked as a carpenter and wheelwright.

The college moved to permanent facilities in January 1883. The new location was a modest one: a two-story brick building constructed on a twenty acre plot in the western outskirts of town. The college still offered no living facilities, so students continued to live off-campus in rented rooms.

The Branch Normal College in 1908. Only the left-most building existed in 1883.
The right-most building is a dormitory that was built in 1887.
The building between them is a shop building constructed in 1893.
From the Library of Congress

The college celebrated its achievements at a June 1883 public ceremony held to mark the end of the academic term. The event was held off-campus at St. John's AME church. The nature of the event reveals a bit about how Corbin ran the college. The event opened with a prayer by Rev. Sylvester Hutchinson, likely the pastor at St. John's. This was followed by three student speeches: a salutatory (or welcome speech) on "Fame," a speech on "The Human Hand," and a graduating address by Alice A. Sizemore on "The Past." At the end, Frank J. Wise, a prominent white lawyer,  presented diplomas. Music was played between the speeches. The first speech was preceded by the singing of the anthem and Hallelujah by the college choir. The "First Regimental March" was played next, following by "Spirit Creator of Mankind" by the Belgian composer Louis Lambillotte, and finally Gloria from Mozart's Twelfth Mass. 

The song "First Regimental March" was likely the "Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment." Singing this son was an act of major political significance. The song was written during the Civil War, and it is sung to the tune of "John Brown's Body." The lyrics proudly proclaim Black soldiers' opposition to the Confederacy. Some lines are "We are going out of slavery; we're bound for freedom's light; / We mean to show Jeff Davis how the Africans can fight" and "[Former enslavers] will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin." This was a remarkably bold act by students and faculty at a college funded by a state legislature dominated by former Confederate soldiers!

While not as blatant, the rest of the event also held political significance. The speeches displayed academic knowledge and were the types of speeches delivered by students at Predominantly White Institutions during the 19th century. When had graduated from Ohio University several decades earlier, Corbin had delivered a speech on "The Dangers of Literary Distinction." Compares these speeches to those delivered by students at HBCUs like Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute. At a similar exercise held in 1882, the titles of Tuskegee student speeches included "Go to Work" and "The Drunkard's Daughter." The content of the speeches was not recorded, but the titles suggested that they were exhortations to avoid vices that whites alleged were prevalent among freedpersons.

Later that year, in December, the Branch Normal College held another public exhibit. At this event, students gave speeches displaying their knowledge of classical culture. One student delivered a declamation of Anthony's Oration over Caesar, while another gave one on "Rome." Other speeches emphasized students' connections to American culture. One student read a selection from George Washington's Inaugural Address, another spoke on "Revolutionary soldiers."

The music choices suggest similar attitudes. The songs played at the June event were taken from the European musical tradition. This ran counter to common expectations. In public music performances, especially those held for white audiences, students at HBCUs typically played music that came from (sometimes real, sometimes imagined) Black traditions such as spirituals.

A closer look at Branch Normal Students

We can get an unusually close look at Branch Normal students during the 1880s thanks to the work of an interviewer employed by the Works Progress Administration. In the 1930s, the WPA sponsored a project to interview freed slaves. Among those interviewed was Joseph Samuel Badgett, a former at the Branch Normal. Here's what Badgett told the interviewer about his experiences:

After that I went to Pine Bluff. The County Judge at that time had the right to name a student from each district. I was appointed and went up there in '82 and '83 from my district. It took about eight years to finish Branch Normal at that time. I stayed there two years. I roomed with old man John Young.

You couldn't go to school without paying unless you were sent by the Board. We lived in the country and I would go home in the winter and study in the summer. Professor J.C. Corbin was principal of the Pine Bluff Branch Normal at that time. Dr. A. H. Hill, Professor Booker, and quite a number of the people we consider distinguished were in school then. They finished, but I didn't. I had to go to my mother because she was ill. I don't claim to have no schooling at all.

John Young is listed in the 1893 college catalogue as living in Pine Bluff, but I can't find any other information about him. The other two people he mentions were deceased at the time of the interview, but they had been prominent educators and religious leaders.

Former Branch Normal student A. H. Hill
From "The Sons of Allen"

A. H. Hill was Andrew Henry Hill. Hill was born after the war (in 1870) in Brentwood, Tennessee. I haven't been able to find much information about the parents, and in particular, it unclear if they were free or enslaved. When Hill was a child, the family moved to Monroe County and started a farm. When he was a young teenager, Hill became active in the AME church, but instead of immediately entering the ministry, he decided to enroll at the Branch Normal College. He completed his studies there in 1899 and then went to Ohio to attend Wilberforce University. He graduated the university three years later and then returned to Arkansas to serve as a minister at an AME church in Fort Smith. He also served president of Shorter College (an HBCU in Little Rock that is affiliated with the AME church) for almost a decade and was a minister in Pine Bluff.

Joseph A. Booker
From Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Professor Booker was Joseph Albert Booker. His life before the war is relatively well documented. In 1859, Booker was born enslaved on a plantation near the modern town of Portland, Arkansas. The plantation was run by John P. Fisher, an early settler from New Hampshire. By the time Booker was born, Fisher's plantation was a sizable farm of 600 acres which was cultivated by fifty-five enslaved workers. 

Booker experienced great hardship as a child. Both parents died when he was a baby. According to one account, his father was whipped to death for teaching other slaves to read. Booker remained on Fisher's plantation until after the Civil War. By 1870, he and his sister were working as farm laborer for a Black farmer (Jonia Georg).

A modern photo of the Fisher plantation where Booker was born
From Wikipedia

Booker followed a path similar to that of Hill. He became interested in Christianity as a teenager (although he joined the Baptist church rather than the AME church) and enrolled at the Branch Normal College. The timeline of his studies is a little confused. Badgett says that Booker was at the school in 1882 or 1883, but accounts of Booker's life state that he attended from 1878 to 1881. In any case, at some point, he left the college and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in order to attend Roger Williams University, a now defunct HBCU founded by white abolitionists. He stayed at the university for five years, earning a bachelor's degree in 1886. Booker returned to Arkansas after completing his education. He served as minister for a church in southern Arkansas for year, and then he was elected president of Arkansas Baptist College, a HBCU in Little Rock. He remained in that position for the rest of his life.

Booker credited J. C. Corbin for instilling in him a deep love of learning while he was at the Branch Normal College, but politically, the two differed in important respects. Booker was a supporter of Booker T. Washington and even hosted him when he visited Arkansas. In keeping with Washington's views, Booker advocated a conservative political approach that emphasized accommodation over confrontation. In the 1900s, he served on a city vice commission charged with cleaning up Little Rock's red light districts, and he was appointed by the governor to a race relations committee created in response to a major 1919 race riot. 

Joseph A. Booker
From AARG

Joseph Samuel Badgett was not a major public figure like Booker or Hill, but his life is also well-documented. In his interview, he says that his mother was enslaved and "had Indian in her." The last statement is consistent with other public records which record her race as "mulatto." Joseph was born during the last year of the Civil War, so he was born into slavery but had no memory of being a slave. 

Joseph says nothing about his father in his interview, and federal census records are contradictory about basic facts concerning him. The father is described as being born in Ohio in 1900 and 1910, but the 1940 census states he was born in Texas. One possibility for this silence and confusion is that the father was his enslaver, or another white man living in the household.

Joseph's enslaver was likely Madison Badgett, the only adult male with the last name "Badgett" who was recorded as living in the county in 1860. That year, Madison Badgett enslaved two women whose ages match the ages of Joseph's mother and older sister. No enslaved men were in the household, lending further support to the theory that Joseph's father was his enslaver. 

After emancipation, Joseph's mother found work as a domestic servant, and he helped support her by working as a farmhand. Joseph was educated in the state's newly formed public schools, and his teachers included J. C. Smith. Smith was likely teaching between terms at the Branch Normal College to earn some extra income.

His WPA interview focuses on his early life, but Joseph achieved major personal success after leaving the college. He settled in Little Rock and worked as an upholster and then as a barber. At the time of his interview, he had owned his own home for decades.

The Branch Normal College changed significantly after Corbin left. His departure was part of a wave of changes throughout the south as populist politicians rose to political power and created the Jim Crow political system that sought to reduce Black citizens to a state of near-slavery. At the Branch Normal, Arkansas politicians worked to replace the college's academic coursework with training for semi-skilled professions. The campus environment during the 1920s was depicted by novelist Chester Himes (whose father had been on the faculty) in his autobiography and, in fictionalized form, in his novel The Third Generation. Himes depicts the Branch Normal as a wild place where the children of poor and ignorant sharecroppers learned to become "good farmers an' good blacksmiths an' good Nigras," in the words of the governor in The Third Generation. The learning of classical western culture that Corbin had promoted was entirely gone.

Map of Pine Bluff in 1923. The location of the college is indicated in red.
University of Arkansas Library

Reconstructing higher education in Arkansas

Arkansas Industrial University
History of the University of Arkansas

Here we'll discuss public higher education in Arkansas during Reconstruction.

Creating higher education in Arkansas

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, education in Arkansas was in an underdeveloped state. There was no state-supported university, and the education that was available was largely offered by private institutions. Higher education was provided by St. Johns' College, Cane Hill College, and Arkansas College. 

In general, Arkansas was largely a frontier state. However, it was developing rapidly as the economy was propelled by cotton planting. From 1850 to 1860, the population roughly doubled, growing from 209,897 to 435,450. Despite the growth, the total population remained small: Arkansas was the second smallest of the states that would make up the Confederacy. Slavery remained relatively underdeveloped. Enslaved workers formed about a quarter of the state population, the lowest percentage within the Confederacy. 

The state only reluctantly seceded from the Union. In response to Lincoln's election, a state convention to debate secession was held in March 1861. However, a proposed ordinance of secession was defeated. Arkansas remained in the Union until May 1861. That month the state convention was reconvened following the Battle of Fort Sumter. Many convention delegates were outraged at Lincoln's call for Arkansas to provide troops to put down the rebellion, and an ordinance of secession was adopted.

Secession placed Arkansas in the front line of the Civil War as it bordered the Union state of Missouri. Federal forces entered the state and achieved major military victory over Confederates in early 1862. For the remainder of the war, the state was an active war zone. Civil government largely broke down. The military took over governing parts of the state while other parts fell into anarchy.

Within the state, organized educational activities largely stopped during the war. However, there were positive developments on the national level. In 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. These acts provided states with funding (through land sales) to build colleges devoted to agriculture and the mechanical arts.

In order receive benefits, state legislatures had to accept the Morrill Acts. This presented a difficulty for Arkansas. By 1864, federal troops had taken control of the state capital of Little Rock, and a loyalist state government had been formed. The newly formed legislature accepted the Acts in May 1864. However, the legal meaning of the legislature's actions was unclear as the Morrill Acts explicitly excluded state that were in rebellion. Thus, in January 1867, after hostilities had come to an end, the state legislature accepted the Acts for a second time.

Despite the acceptance of the Morrill Acts, the Arkansas legislature only made took up the problem of establishing a univeristy in 1868, at the start of Congressional Reconstruction. That year the state adopted a new constitution which set one of legislature's duties to be establishing and maintaining a state univeristy. During the first session (in July 1868) held under constitution, the legislature passed an act creating a public univeristy. The new university was to be governed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction together with a board of trustees appointed by the governor. Its purpose was to instruct students in both the standard liberal arts curriculum as well as agriculture, "the mechanic arts," engineering and military science.

While the legislature created a Board of Trustees charged with creating and running a public university, the trustees had made little progress by 1871, so the legislature revisited the issue. That year a second act creating a public university was passed. The new act revised the previous one and created significant structural changes. For example, the new univeristy was named the "Arkansas Industrial University." Most significantly, the Board structure was changed so that trustees who had been appointed by the governor were now elected by the legislature and the university president was given an ex-officio seat.

The new Board of Trustees was more active than the old one, and it soon began selecting a location for the newly created Arkansas Industrial University. The Board solicited bids from counties and towns and then considered them in September 1871. That month the Board passed a resolution establishing the univeristy in Washington County. After considering a few possible locations within the county, the Board decided to establish the university in the town of Fayetteville, the county seat.

The location of the univeristy

Washington County lies in northwest of the state. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the county was largely populated by small farms run by families engaged in subsistence farming. About 15,000 people resided in the county. Of these, only a small minority (about 2%) were slave-owners. Individual slave-owners owned relatively few slaves: most owned fewer than four, and slaves only made up about a tenth of the county population. However, slave-owners wielded a large amount of economic and political power. They held the majority of the elected positions, for example.

The town of Fayetteville formed a cultural and political center within Arkansas. In addition to being the county seat, it housed Arkansas College, one of the few college in the state. About 1,000 people lived in the Fayetteville. Of these, about a third were enslaved.

Fayetteville experienced tremendous hardship during the Civil War. The town was occupied by federal troops early on (in February 1862) and was site of a battle. By the end of the war, parts of the town were in ruin. Winning the location of the new public univeristy was a way for the town to assert its continued significance in the aftermath of the war.

The opening of the univeristy

Arkansas Industrial Univeristy first opened its doors in January 1872, shortly after the trustees selected Fayetteville for its location. The univeristy began modestly. On the first day of the univeristy, only seven students matriculated. The student population had grown to about one hundred by the end of the year. Most students arrived at the university ill-prepared for college-work, so the courses offered were largely college preparatory courses.

The first students were overwhelming Arkansans, and Fayetteville locals were strongly represented. The first students included the children of prominent county residents, for examples the sons of state Associate Judge Lafayette Gregg. Judge Gregg had served in the state Congress during the Antebellum and fought for the Union during the war. He had played an important role in securing Fayetteville as the location of the new univeristy.

The new students included both men and women. One of the first acts of the trustees had been to declare the university open equally to men and women. Women fully took advantage of the opportunity: six of the first ten college students were women, for example.

The issue of African-American enrollment was more delicate. The trustees took up this issue shortly after the university opened. At a January 1872 meeting, a resolution instructing the Univeristy President to admit both White and African-American students was proposed. However, the resolution was replaced by one stating that the question of African-American enrollment was to be disposed of "as the sound discretion of the Executive Committee may dictate." The Committee evidently decided that African-Americans should be admitted: in an April 1873 address to the Board, the Univeristy President reported that univeristy had open its doors to all "without regard to race, sex or sect."

Despite the President's statement, the university was open to African-Americans only in a perfunctory sense. The number of African-American students was small, and those students were forbidden from attending classes with White students. Instead, they received private tutoring from the University President.

It is unclear how many African-American students actually attended. Reynolds and Thomas' History of the University of Arkansas state that only one student applied for admission. That student is likely James McGahee. McGahee was from Woodruff County. He appears in university records as a scholarship student attending the Preparatory Department for the 1872-73 academic year.

A different estimate is provided by Rothrock in his article "Joseph Carter Corbin and Negro Education in the University of Arkansas.” Rothrock states that, in fact, several African-American students attended the university. He quotes a 1922 letter by the wife of Lucy Gates, the wife of UA's first president, stating that "two or three Negro boys applied for admission." Newspapers from the time reported that two other African-Americans, Mark Wallace Alexander and Isom Washington, received university scholarships for the 1873-74 academic year. However, they are not among the listed students in the university catalogue.

The first faculty

During the university's first semester, classes were taught be three faculty members: Noah P. Gates, Mary Gorton, and Charles H. Leverett. Professor Leverett taught ancient languages, and the other two were responsible for the Normal (or teacher training) Department. A year later the faculty had expanded to include Miss Stanard as an Instructress of the Training School and Henry L. Burnell as Professor of Military Science. The next year Burnell was replaced by Edwin S. Curtis, and the university added Tom L. Thompson as Professor of Chemistry, Nicholas B. Pearce as Professor of Mathematics and Engineering, and W. D. C. Botefuhr as Professor of Music.

The faculty demonstrated regional and political diversity, a remarkable development given the political polarization in Arkansas at the time. Burnell and Curtis had both served in the Union army, while Leverett and Pearce had served the Confederacy. Pearce had even commanded troops that won a major battle early in the war. Of the other faculty members, Gates was from the border state of Kentucky, while Botefuhr, Gorton, and Thompson were from the midwest. (It is not known where Stanard was from.)

Of the faculty, Curtis and Pearce had graduated from the Military Academy at West Point, Leverett from the South Carolina College, Thompson from Iowa State College, and Gorton from Illinois Normal University. Nothing is known about Stanard, but the other three faculty members, Gates, Burnell, and Botefuhr, had not completed a college education, although some had taken college classes. 

The end of Reconstruction

Reconstruction came to an end during the university's third year. The first three years of the university were a time of tremendous chaos in Arkansas state politics. The Republican Party had split into two rival factions, and each contested the other's claim to have won the 1872 gubernatorial election. The dispute culminated in widespread political violence in Little Rock during the summer of 1874. 

The ultimate outcome of the dispute within the Republican Party was that the party was largely removed from political power. During a special session held that summer, the General Assembly called for a constitutional convention. Political restrictions on ex-Confederates had recently lifted, so Conservative Democrats were able to dominate the convention. In October, a new Constitution was approved, a new Democratic governor was elected, and Democratic politicians gained a large majority within the state legislature. 

The end of Reconstruction had surprisingly little impact on the university. The legislature declared all trustee positions to be vacated and created a new Board of Trustees. However, there were no major changes to the faculty and students. For example, despite having fought for the Union, Edwin S. Curtis retained his professorship until 1875 when he came into conflict with other faculty over issues like student discipline. Leverett remained at the university for the next 20 years.

The end of Reconstruction signaled the end of the university's limited efforts toward racial integration. However, those efforts were already being reversed during the last years of Reconstruction. In 1873, the state legislature created the Branch Normal College in Pine Bluff. It was tacitly understood that this college would be for African-Americans and Arkansas Industrial University would be for Whites. For the next seven decades, no African-Americans would attend the university.

The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: Nicholas B. Pearce

Nicholas Bartlett Pearce
History of the University of Arkansas

Nicholas Bartlett Pearce (b. July 20, 1828; d. March 8, 1894 )

Kentucky.  White.
Education: United States Military Academy
Occupation: farmer, manufacturer, merchant

Nicholas B. was born in 1828 in Caldwell County, KY to Allon and Mary Pearce. Little is known about his parents. 

Nicholas attended Cumberland College, a now-defunct private college in Kentucky that was affiliated with the Presbyterian church. After gradating from the college, Nicholas matriculated to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from the academy in 1850.

After graduating, Nicholas was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment. He remained with the 7th Infantry for most of the 1850s. During this time, the regiment saw service in Arkansas and Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma).

In August 1858, while stationed in Arkansas, Nicholas resigned from the army. He moved to Osage Mills in Benton County and helped run his father-in-law's general store and mill. 

During the Civil War, Nicholas fought against the federal army. Nicholas had opposed the secession of Arkansas. However, shortly after the state seceded, he was elected as one of three commanders of the state military, reorganized as the "Army of Arkansas." Nicholas held the title of brigadier general and commanded the First Division of Arkansas Army. In July 1861, he led the army into Missouri and defeated federal forces at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. 

Despite the victory, Nicholas played only a limited role in the war after Wilson's Creek. In August of that year, officials tried to transfer the troops under Nicholas's command from the Arkansas state government to the Confederacy. Nicholas opposed the transfer, but this had limited impact. By the end of the year, essentially all Arkansas state troops had either been mustered out or transferred east to join the Confederate Army.

After his troops were transferred, Nicholas served in the Confederate Commissary Department. He was first stationed in Arkansas, but around April 1862, he was moved to Texas and continued working as a commissary. He would remain in Texas for the remainder of the war.

After the Civil War (in 1865), Nicholas received a pardon from President Johnson for having supported the rebellion. In 1867, he returned to Benton County, AR and worked to rebuild the businesses he'd run before the war.

In December 1872, Nicholas was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Engineering. He only remained in the position for two years, until around the end of Reconstruction. His professorship was given to O. C. Gray.

Nicholas left Arkansas Industrial Univeristy to return to Benton County. He served as the postmaster for Osage Mills during the late 1870s. 

During this time, Nicholas began involved in state politics. He was elected assistant secretary for the 1874 state Constitutional Convention. In 1876, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State.

In 1879, he moved to Kansas City, MO. He first worked as a commercial traveler for the firm of S. H. Benedict & Co. He later worked as an examiner for the Lombard Investment Company.

While living in Kansas City, Nicholas' wife began to experience ill health. She and Nicholas moved to Texas around 1884 in hope that the climate would improve her health. By 1891, Nicholas was living in Dallas and continuing to work for the Lombard Investment Company. 

Nicholas died in Dallas, TX in 1894. He is buried in Oak Wood Cemetery.

Undated photo of Nicholas B. Pearce
From Wikipedia

Sources

1. 1850; Census Place: Cornwall, Orange, New York; Roll: 573; Page: 171b

2. 1860; Census Place: Anderson, Benton, Arkansas; Page: 427; Family History Library Film: 803037

3. 1870; Census Place: Osage, Benton, Arkansas; Roll: M593_47; Page: 304B

4. 1880; Census Place: Anderson, Benton, Arkansas; Roll: 38; Page: 366A; Enumeration District: 010

5. Texas, U.S., Death Certificates. 

6. Reynolds, John Hugh and Thomas, David Yancey. History of the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville: Univeristy of Arkansas. (1910) pp. 507-508.

7. Dallas, Texas, City Directory, 1891

8. Kansas City, Missouri, City Directory, 1881, 1882, 1887.

9. The daily union, March 20, 1851, p. 3.

10. The daily union, July 28, 1855, p. 2.

11. "Resignation of an Army Officer" Evening star, March 26, 1858, p. 2.

12. "Regnant Populi." Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock,  AR). July 15, 1874. p.1 . 

13. "Meeting of the Constitution Makers." Fayetteville Weekly Democrat (Fayetteville, AR). July 18, 1874. p.1

14. "Personal." Fayetteville Weekly Democrat (Fayetteville, AR). December 25, 1875, 1874. p. 5.

The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: Oliver Crosby Gray

Oliver C. Gray

Oliver Crosby Gray (b. December 30, 1832; d. December 9, 1905)

ME.  White.
Education: Colby College (A.B., honorary A.M., honorary LL.D.), St. John's College (honorary LL.D.)

Occupation: professor, teacher

O. C. Gray was born in Jefferson, Maine to Peter and Rachel Kennedy Gray. The father Peter was a noted Harvard-trained physician. 

Gray was first educated at the Waterville Classical Institute. Starting in 1849, he attended the institute's preparatory program for two years and then matriculated at Waterville College (now Colby College). He received an A.B. degree from the college in 1855. 

After receiving his degree, Gray began attending Dartmouth College. However, he only attended the briefly. In 1856, he moved west to Minneapolis, MN. There he worked as a principal for public schools. He remained in Minneapolis until 1857 when he moved south to Arkansas.

In Arkansas, Gray first served as principal at Monticello Academy. After about two years, he left to serve as principal of Princeton Academy (in Princeton, AR). 

When the Civil War broke out, Gray enlisted in the Confederate army. He began the war as a private in the Third Arkansas Cavalry but was later promoted to captain. Gray was at the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga. In 1864, while returning home on furlough, Gray was captured by federal troops and imprisoned in New Orleans and on Ship Island (in Mississippi). He was later released in a prisoner exchange. He returned to military service, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. By the end of the war, he been assigned to General Armstrong's staff.

After the war, Gray returned to Arkansas and continued to teach. He first served as principal of the Princeton Female Academy. However, after a year in that position, he accepted the position of math professor at St. John's College in Little Rock. There he taught math from 1868 to 1871. In 1871, he was elected college president. He remained in that position until 1874 when he moved to the Arkansas Industrial University.

Gray moved to the university to serve as Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering. He remained at the univeristy until 1886. He then left for a year to serve as principal of Fayetteville public schools. During this time, he was also elected mayor of Fayetteville. Gray returned to his university professorship in 1889 and remained there until 1895.

After leaving the university in 1895, Gray moved to Little Rock to serve as principal the Arkansas School for the Blind. In 1899, he let Little Rock for Searcy where he served as principal of the Speers-Langford Military Institute at Searcy. Gray returned to the School for the Blind in 1901 and remained their for the rest of his career.

During the winter of 1905, Gray fell ill with cerebra-spinal-meningitis. Six weeks later the illness took his life. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville.

Sources Cited

1. "Gray, Oliver Crosby." The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume VIII. New York,  James T. White & Company (1924).  pp. 303-304.

2. "Col. O. C. Gray has passed away." Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR). December 10, 1905. p. 1. 

3. "Goes to Searcy." Semi-weekly graphic (Pine Bluff, AR). August 19, 1899, p. 6.

4. 1850; Census Place: Waldoboro, Lincoln, Maine; Roll: 259; Page: 205b

5. 1870; Census Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: M593_62; Page: 245B

6. 1880; Census Place: Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: 59; Page: 683C; Enumeration District: 215

7. 1900; Census Place: Searcy, White, Arkansas; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 0149; FHL microfilm: 1240080

8. Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota State Population Census Schedules, 21 Sept 1857. St. Paul, MN, USA: Minnesota Historical Society, 1977. Microfilm. Reels 1-47 and 107-164.

9. History of the Univeristy of Arkansas

The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: James Mitchell

James Mitchell
History of the University of Arkansas

James Mitchell
From Linda Davis via findagrave.com

James Mitchell (b. May 8, 1832; June 26, 1902)

AR. White.
Education: Cane Hill College (honorary B.A.)

Occupation: editor, farmer, publisher, school teacher

James Mitchell was born in Cane Hill, Arkansas in 1832 to James and Mary Ann Mitchell. The father was a farmer. His parents had moved to Arkansas from the midwest shortly before James was born.

Growing up, James had to help out on the family farm but attended school when could, for example during winters. His formal education concluded with attending Cane Hill College for the 1855-56 academic year. 

In 1856, the year after his formal education ended, James received an appointment as a U.S. deputy surveyor. This job took him to the Kansas and Nebraska territories for the next two years. 

In Fall 1859, shortly after after he'd returned from working as a surveyor, he opened a school in Evansville, AR. The next year was elected to the state legislature. He served in the house and was elected as a Democrat. As a legislator, he chaired the House Education Committee.

When the Civil War broke, James enlisted in the army and fought for the Confederacy. In 1861, he served as a private in an independent cavalry company. The next year he entered 34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant. He was transferred to Crawford's 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment around December 1863 and was appointed quartermaster. He served until the end of the war. 

The Civil War came to an end for James in May 1865, when his unit surrendered near Corsicana, TX. His family was also living in Texas at this time, as they had fled wartime disruptions in Arkansas. The family lived for a year in Bonham, TX while James taught to earn money. 

In 1866, after he'd spent a year in Texas, James returned to Cane Hill, AR. He soon began teaching at Cane Hill College. While he was teaching there, the college awarded him a B.A. degree, although the degree was presumably honorary. He taught at the college for about 6 years. 

James left Cane Hill to teach at the Arkansas Industrial University in 1874. He was elected Professor of History and English Literature. James was hired around the time that A. W. Bishop was made univeristy president. At a July 1874 inaugural ceremony, James gave a speech about education in Arkansas. In his speech, he promoted education as a way to improve the state:

What do we need in Arkansas? Do we not need more trained and cultivated intellects, more trained workers, in all classes and ranks of society? Do we not need them in our courts, in our Legislatures, at the bar, at the bedside of the sick, in the schoolroom, in the pulpit, in private life, in public life – everywhere? Looking back at the dark past of Arkansas, and forward to our future by no means bright, we are constrained to say that we need a better, higher and purer culture among all our people. It is said of Themistocles that when he was laughed at on account of his ignorance of certain accomplishments held in much esteem by many of the Athenians, he replied: "It is true that I never learned to tune a harp, or play upon a lute; but I know how to raise a small and obscure State to greatness and renown." Oh, that from the multitude of her public servants – that from the horde of politicians that now afflict the body politic, there would arise, in the near future, but one Themistocles to lead Arkansas to glory and renown!

The reference to "the horde of politicians that now afflict the body politic" is likely a reference to the state Republican politicians which dominated Arkansas at the time. James was giving his speech shortly after the state governorship had been violently contested in the Brooks-Baxer war. 

James taught at the university until 1877. That year he resigned his professorship to move to Little Rock.

James moved to Little Rock to assume the editorship of the Little Rock Gazette. After about two years, he left the Gazette to become part owner of the Arkansas Democrat. In 1890, ownership of the newspaper was transferred to the Arkansas Democrat Company. James was made president of the company and editor-in-chief of the newspaper. In that capacity, James advocated for improving education and promoted Democratic politics. 

In addition to his newspaper work, James served as Little Rock's postmaster during President Cleveland's second administration (from 1893-97).

James died in Little Rock in 1902 after a short illness. He is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery. His papers are held by the Univeristy of Arkansas.

James Mitchell
From NoBody via findagrave

Sources cited

1. 1850; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: 31; Page: 417a

2. 1860; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Page: 565; Family History Library Film: 803052

3. 1870; Census Place: Cane Hill, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: M593_66; Page: 89B

4.  1880; Census Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: 54; Page: 300A; Enumeration District: 143

5. 1900; Census Place: Little Rock Ward 2, Pulaski, Arkansas; Page: 14; Enumeration District: 0073

6. Reynolds, John Hugh and Thomas, David Yancey, History of the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville, University of Arkansas. (1910).

7. Ross, Frances Mitchell, and James Mitchell. "Civil War Letters from James Mitchell to His Wife, Sarah Elizabeth Latta Mitchell." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 37, no. 4 (1978): 306-17. 

8. Ross, Frances Mitchell. "James Mitchell, Spokesman for Women's Equality in Nineteenth Century Arkansas." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 43, no. 3 (1984): 222-35.

The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: N. P. Gates

N. P. Gates
History of the Univeristy of Arkansas

N. P. Gates
Hope Star newspaper

Noah Putnam Gates (b. November 18, 1832; April 18, 1909)

KY.  White.
Education: Arkansas Industrial University (honorary M.A.)

Occupation: school superintendent, teacher

Noah Putnam Gates was born in 1832 near Princeton, KY (in Caldwell County) to Nathan and Carolina Gates. By 1850, the family had moved to Missouri, and the father Nathan was working as a farmer.

Noah attended church schools in Kentucky and Missouri. He then attended Chapel Hill College in Missouri, Princeton College in Princeton, KY, the Illinois Normal University, and the University of Michigan. However, he did not receive a degree from any of these schools.

At a young age, Noah planned to enter the ministry. However, he began teaching as a way to support his own education and ended up staying in the profession. He taught for six years in Charleston, IL and then for three years in Mattoon,  IL.

Around summer 1869, Noah decided to leave Illinois and move south as the Illinois winters were negatively impacting his health. In August of that year, he left his position to become a school superintendent in Little Rock, AR. He left Little Rock around January 1872 to accept a position at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy.

Noah was elected Arkansas Univeristy's first president. As the first president, he had a number of important duties: helping the trustees hire faulty, supervising the construction of new buildings, and other organizational work. 

One especially important issue that Gates addressed was the admission of African American students. After the univeristy opened African Americans applied for admission to study during the 1872-73 academic year. The university's policy regarding the matter. A trustee had proposed a resolution resolving that both Whites and African Americans be admitted. However, the proposal failed and instead the trustees passed a resolution directing the Board's Executive Committee shall dispose of the issue when it arises.

The Executive Committee evidently chose to admit students of all races as African Americans were admitted during the university's first year. It is unclear how many students were admitted, although it was a limited number, at most three or four. The students were not allowed to attend courses with White students. Instead, they received private lessons by Noah outside of normal school hours. 

When he had accepted the university presidency, Noah intended to hold it only for a short time and then step down to become principal of the university's Normal Department. In 1873, the trustees organized a national search for a university president. However, the search failed, so in late 1873, the trustees elected trustee member Albert W. Bishop as president.  

After Bishop's election as president, Noah served as principal for the Normal Department. In 1875, Bishop stepped down from the presidency after he was appointed Arkansas's adjutant general. A second national search failed, and Noah became president a second time around June 1875. 

Noah's second presidency lasted two years until about June 1877. In his place, Daniel H. Hill was elected president and Noah returned to serving as principal of the Normal Department. While serving as department principal, in 1880, Noah awarded an honorary M.A. degree from the Arkansas Industrial Univeristy. 

Noah resigned his position at the university in 1884. He left to move to Fort Smith and act as a school superintendent there. He remained in Fort Smith until 1889, when he returned to Fayetteville to serve as the town's school superintendent. Noah retired in 1902 because he was experiencing ill-health.

Noah died in 1909 while living in Little Rock, AR. He is buried in Fayetteville.

Sources

1. 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Buchanan, Missouri; Roll: 393; Page: 137a

2. 1860; Census Place: Princeton, Caldwell, Kentucky; Page: 30; Family History Library Film: 803359

3. 1870; Census Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas; Roll: M593_62; Page: 276A

4. 1880; Census Place: Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas; Roll: 59; Page: 693D; Enumeration District: 215

5. 1900; Census Place: Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 0113; FHL microfilm: 1240079

6. History of the Univeristy of Arkansas

7. "Presidents of the University." Hope Star (Hope, AR), April 19,  1972. p. 26. 

8. "First President of State U. Dies." St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO). April 19, 1909. p. 2.

9. "In Memoriam: Prof. N. P. Gates." Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, AR). April 20, 1909. p. 5.

The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: Mary Gorton

Mary Gorton
History of the University of Arkansas

Mary R. Gorton (b. September 27, 1844; d. November 15, 1875)

Illinois.  White.
Education: Illinois Normal University

Occupation: school teacher

Mary Gorton was born in Rock Island, IL in 1844 to Truman B. and Elizabeth (Searle) Gorton. The father Truman worked as a farmer and land broker. Truman saw considerable financial success. By 1860, he had accumulated $25,000 in real estate.

Mary attended Rock Island High School and graduated in 1863. She then matriculated at the Illinois Normal Univeristy (now Illinois State Univeristy). She graduated with highest honors and was class valedictorian.

While a student, Mary worked for a year as an assistant principal in Rock Island. However, after graduating she took a position in Cook County, IL at a normal (or teacher training) school. She taught in Cook County for four years.

Mary was one of the first faculty members hired at the Arkansas Industrial Univeristy. She was elected as Preceptress in the Normal Department. She started teaching when the univeristy opened in January 1872. She was made principal of the Normal Department in Fall 1875.

Mary was the source of controversy in 1874. Some Fayetteville residents accused her of being a religious skeptic and teaching "doctrines at variance with the Holy Scriptures." The accusations were taken seriously enough that the other univeristy faculty published a letter in the local newspaper defending her. In the letter, the professors acknowledged that Mary held religious views that differed from those of many community members, but they said that she regarding the Bible with high veneration. They further added that her students asserted that she'd never expressed any religious skepticism.  They condemned Mary's accusers, saying that the unsupported accusations were a "cowardly and unmanly attack upon a lady who is held in the highest esteem by those who know her best."

Mary resigned from the univeristy in 1877. Upon receiving her resignation,  the Board of Trustees expressed their appreciation for her contributions to the university. They passed a resolution declaring, "By her happy tact in subduing and controlling the wayward and the idle, impressing upon them her own high type of thought and mode of reasoning, and by her unvarying devotion to the interests of the University, has made us to feel her loss to be almost irreparable."

Mary left Arkansas for St. Louis, MO. She had been privately studying law and was hoping to open a law practice. While studying, she continued teaching, this time at a St. Louis public school. Mary was admitted to the bar in 1878.

Tragically, Mary died before she could practice law. In November 1878, she fell ill and died. She is buried in the Chippiannock Cemetery in Rock Island, IL.

Sources

1. 1850; Census Place: District 37, Rock Island, Illinois; Roll: 126; Page: 233b

2. 1860; Census Place: Rock Island, Rock Island, Illinois; Page: 489; Family History Library Film: 803222

3. 1870; Census Place: Rock Island Ward 3, Rock Island, Illinois; Roll: M593_273; Page: 342A

4. Illinois Normal University Catalogue, 1863. 

5. History of the University of Arkansas

6. "A Card." Fayetteville Weekly Democrat (Fayetteville, AR). October 17, 1874. p. 3.