Unveiling of Plaque & Dedication of Dr. Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite as a National Historic Place

This past month the Historical Society of Forest Park sponsored the bronze plaque recognizing the grave of Dr. Joseph Corbin.  Uli Lieb, our Treasurer, worked on navigating the wording and making sure all the pieces were in place to have this honor in our town.    It is highly unusual to have the National Record of Historic Places honor a man from Ohio who made a huge impact in Arkansas be recognized in Illinois.  Through years of persistence, Dr. Gladys Turner Finney a woman from Ohio, pushed for the Illinois grave to be recognized for the extraordinary life and achievements of a man who radically worked to improve the lives of Black men and women in the United States.  Her devotion met up with John Rice and created this proud testament to a man that came to rest at what is now known as Forest Home Cemetery.    
With representatives from the Department of the Interior, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and  Dr. Gladys Turner Finney the placard was unveiled at the chapel at Forest Home.  The Plaque was then given to staff at Forest Home Cemetery to be install on his headstone.  His grave is near the 290 Expressway for thousands of people to pass everyday.

Dr. Joseph Corbin, was one of eleven children born in the free state of Ohio in 1833 to former enslaved parents, William and Susan Corbin.  His early education included subscription schools, as well as both private and home schooling.  He went to Kentucky for college prep courses.  He was the second Black man to graduate from the Ohio University in 1853 with an A.B. degree and was one of the institution’s most distinguished and scholarly graduates.  His mastery of classical languages including Latin, and his mathematic skills were especially noted as well as his flute, piano and organ playing.
After graduation he worked in banking and as the editor and co-publisher of The Colored Citizen Newspaper, he and his wife, Mary Jane, migrated to Little Rock, Arkansas.  He was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1872 which therefore made him president of the board of trustees for the University of Arkansas and he recognized the need for teachers for former slaves and their families.   He went to Pine Bluff to select a site and open Branch Normal College of the Arkansas Industrial University  and opened the college in 1875 in a small house.  He lobbied for and successfully was granted the land in 1889 for the for the school and buildings at the edge of town.

He oversaw nearly every aspect of the school as an instructor, management of the dormitories for men and for women, provided his own belongings to furnish the school, cleared land, saved wood for fuel, was the custodian and even built the fence around the school to prevent trespassers.  Corbin was steadfast in his belief that African American youth must build their future on something other than farming.

 When the political climate in Arkansas shifted he lost his position when the Republican Reconstruction government was overturned, and was unable to regain his position.  He continued in Pine Bluff serving local Black community.  He co-founded the Arkansas Negro Teachers Association and was president from 1898-1904.  He was president of the Colored Teachers Association in 1902-1903 and Grand Master of the Negro Grand Lodge of Arkansas. He was principal of Merrill High School after his forced retirement from Branch Normal College, a position which he held until his death in his home January 9, 1911.

He had a second residence in South Township Chicago and  had purchased a plot of six graves in 1909 at  German Waldheim Cemetery which did not have racially restrictive burial covenants.  His son was the first to be buried there, followed by his wife in 1910.  He was interred January 14, 1911, at the German Waldheim Cemetery (now Forest Home Cemetery) in Forest Park, Illinois, according to his desire, design, and last will.    

In order for the Dr. Joseph Carter Corbin Gravesite to become a landmark status, there had to be no other extant resource closely associated with his significance.  No properties at Branch Normal College remain from his time there although several campus properties that have been are named in his honor including the J.C. Corbin Teaching Center, Corbin Hall, J.C. Corbin Laboratory Training School, and  J. C. Corbin High School.  His home in Pine Bluff is now a vacant lot.  Merrill High School where he was principal from 1902-1922 was closed in 1971 when school segregation ended. 
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Dr. Corbin was inducted posthumously into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, October 4, 2018, for his advancement of education as a civil right for former slaves and their descendants.  Illinois now is able to join in the recognition of a man that faced obstacles from every direction, yet persevered and made a tremendous impact on our society. 
It is through the will of a remarkable woman, Dr. Gladys Turner Finney, who was an educator who was trained through the Corbin schools that we are able to reflect and learn from the work of Dr. Joseph Carter Corbin, which rings through our nation.