Prof. O. L. Coleman is a native of Livingston, Miss. He first attended the public school of that town. He afterwards went to Alcorn College, then Alcorn University. He also attended school at Washington, D. C. At that time he thought of reading medicine, but gave that up to devote his life as a teacher. He took a course at Chautauqua University, New York, of four years in the study of classics, elocution, and pedagogy.
ARKANSAS BAPTIST COLLEGE.
This school is located at Little Rock, Ark. It was originated by the colored Baptists, in their convention in session at Hot Springs, August, 1884. In the following autumn, school was begun and operated as "The Baptist Institute," using the Mt. Zion house of worship in this city as its first schoolroom. In 1885 Mt. Pleasant house of worship was secured. In that same year, with the aid of Rev. Harry Woodsmall, articles of association were drawn up, and the Institute was legally organized and incorporated under the laws of the State, and known henceforth as the Arkansas Baptist College, with capital stock of $50,000, divided up into shares of $50 each, payable in instalments of $10 a year.
While the "Pastors' Course" was the most prominent feature of the school to begin with, this served as a nucleus around which popular interest collected and grew, and as fast as possible Literary Courses of study were developed and taught, and students from different parts of the State increased in attendance every year, until now the institution has grown in numbers, work and workers, to a very favorable comparison with other colleges in the South.
The spirit of the school is decidedly of a missionary nature. It was established, more than for anything else, to aid teachers and preachers in a higher fitness for their work. Indeed, it aims to specially train preachers and teachers on moral questions, religious obligations and spiritual work. But it also aims to give liberal education in those branches of science, arts, literature and language commonly taught in American colleges, and to give practical training in the industrial and business features of lifework. It is quite unpretentious in all its work, aiming to be, rather than to seem.
The school owns one block, in the southwest part of the city. This property was bought by the colored people at a cost of $5,000. The site is high and desirable, overlooking its surroundings in every direction.
PROF. J. A. BOOKER, A. M.
