Joseph Albert Booker

Joseph Albert Booker (1859-1926) was the first president of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.

Booker was born to Albert Booker and Mary Punchardt Booker in Old Portland, Arkansas, on December 26, 1859. Booker and his parents were slaves on the plantation of John P. Fisher. He began teaching on the Harris plantation around 1875, and also soon became a Baptist minister. He attended the Normal College at Pine Bluff (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) from 1878 to 1881. One of his professors, Joseph C. Corbin, encouraged him in his studies and he eventually graduated from the predecessor institution to Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1886.

Returning to Arkansas, Booker began preaching at Portland on August 22, 1886. He married Mary Jane Caver in June 1887. He became president of Arkansas Baptist College that same year. He remained in that position until his death in 1926. Booker was also the longtime publisher of the Baptist Vanguard newspaper. Booker is interred in Haven of Rest Cemetery.