Born to teach

Booker was more than college president

Imagine our educational situation in Arkansas at the end of the Civil War in 1865. We never had much of a school system prior to the rebellion, and what little infrastructure there was suffered greatly at the hands of both armies. Historian Michael B. Dougan summarized the situation: “Before the War, Arkansas education possessed neither system nor much capital outlay; at the end of the War, both were gone.”

On top of this, 120,000 ex-slaves — or “freedmen” as they were called — lacked even basic literacy. This is where history can encourage us: during the period 1865-1900, a period of 35 years, black literacy grew from practically zero to 60 percent. This statistic is amazing considering that black literacy was accomplished in a school system which provided a mere pittance in funding to black institutions.

This educational revolution was, on the whole, accomplished by black students, parents, teachers, administrators and taxpayers. Arkansas black educational history is filled with tales of miraculous teachers who were not only superb educators but were also known for consciously setting good examples for their charges. No person more fully symbolized the black commitment to education in the post-Civil War era than Joseph A. Booker, the longtime president of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.

Joseph Albert Booker was born Dec. 26, 1859, to Mary and Albert Booker, an enslaved family at Portland in Ashley County. Booker was orphaned at an early age, his mother dying when he was only 1. His father was reportedly beaten to death for teaching other slaves to read and write, although not all his biographical sketches include this gristly detail. He was raised by his maternal grandmother.

Arkansas had no public school system until Reconstruction, but the freedmen were eager to learn to read and write. The fledgling black public schools attracted students of all ages, including young Booker. Despite the schools offering only “the most meager” rudiments of education, Booker was able to continue his education by attending the new Branch Normal College in Pine Bluff — the original name of what is today the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

After three years taking college preparatory courses, Booker transferred in 1881 to Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tenn., where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886. (Roger Williams University in Nashville, which closed in 1929, was not related to the college by the same name which is located in Rhode Island.) Booker was ordained as a Baptist minister following graduation.

Joseph Booker seemed destined to be an educator. As a 12-year-old, he taught in a night school established for freedmen on the plantation where he was born. He also taught summer schools while attending college. Amazingly, in 1887, only one year after graduating from college, Booker was hired as president of the newly created Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.

Given the fact that the new college “was more a college in theory than in actual existence,” the newly minted college president faced a daunting challenge. Only 30 students enrolled for the first year, and all classes were taught by Booker.

All the classes originally offered by Arkansas Baptist College were taught in local black Baptist churches. However, in August 1888, work began on a college building, although fundraising was slow, and the large brick structure was not finished until about 1900. The building, which was located at 16th and High streets, still stands and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Joseph A. Booker served as president of the college until his death in 1926, a total of 39 years. During all those years Booker walked a tight rope as he tried to keep the college going in a time of growing racial discord in Arkansas. Nowhere was this clearer than in Booker’s comments about the nature of black education.

Many white Americans objected to providing blacks with liberal arts education, preferring an emphasis on teaching the “manual arts” — such as farming and printing for males and the “domestic arts” for female students. Booker T. Washington, the longtime president of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, followed this conservative non-confrontational approach.

Realizing that he must have the support of the white business community to raise funds, Joseph Booker was not above playing their game. “My people,” Booker wrote in 1888, “are destroyed politically and socially for lack of knowledge. A thorough training in the industrial pursuits of our country as well as particular education progress will do more than all the civil rights bill or … speeches toward effecting a fixed harmonious relationship between the races…”

As race relations worsened in Arkansas and the South during the 1890s, Booker felt compelled to speak out for moderation. For example, in 1891 a bill was introduced in the legislature to racially segregate passengers on railroads. Appearing at a protest rally in Little Rock, Booker attacked the railroad segregation bill as a “race humiliation,” and he warned that growing racism could cause many Arkansas blacks to immigrate to the west or Africa.

Dying in 1926, Booker was survived by his wife, Mary J. Carver, and eight children.