The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a land-grant historically black college, took a chance on many students.
I was one of them.
It was the early 1970's and I had graduated high school from a small town Arkansas school district which was forced to desegregate. My white school counselor told me, "Eddie you work well with your hands."
Advising me I was not college material. For many black Arkansas residents, Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal (AM&N) College was the only choice readily available to seek a higher education.
So I applied to AM&N in the spring of 1972. The college would merge with the University of Arkansas system, thus becoming the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff by my arrival that fall.
I was immediately impressed with the campus. My older sister was already a student there. My high school academic record was not stellar and the academic adviser placed me in several remedial courses.
My last two years of high school were spent fighting to insure a smooth racial transition at my school, decreasing my study and classroom time.
UAPB was going through a similar racial transition. Most AM&N alumni, students and faculty had opposed the merger. I would soon become a part of a student boycott that would force the college's longtime president, Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, to resign.
UAPB was the only predominantly black public higher education institution in Arkansas and students quickly became loyal boosters.
We were especially loyal to our Golden Lions football team. Even when the team finished 0-11 my sophomore year.
UAPB, by taking a chance on me, gave me an opportunity to imagine things beyond my small hometowns of Crawfordsville and Augusta, Ark.
The school had dedicated and gifted faculty. I always knew I would be involved in public service and politics. I graduated with a political science degree. I had served as a student senator and chief of staff of the Student Government Association. In those roles I met with the governor and would represent my school at the White House by invitation of President Gerald Ford.
By taking a chance on me, UAPB prepared me for the future. I received a graduate scholarship from Atlanta University where I studied urban politics and state & local governments.
By UAPB taking a chance on me, it allowed me to become the youngest and first black department director in Pine Bluff.
By taking a chance on me, my college made it possible for me to meet and work for two legendary civil rights leaders -- the Rev. Hosea Williams and the Rev. Joe Boone.
It allowed me to become a top aide to Arkansas Gov. Frank White. My studies at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff also prepared me to become the information & education officer for the Commissioner of Insurance for Georgia.
Finally, by UAPB taking a chance on me, a small town boy who grew up chopping and picking cotton was elected to the East Point city council.
I’m grateful the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff took a chance on Eddie Lee Brewster.
Today UAPB is still taking chances on students like me.
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