University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a historically black university located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States. 

Founded in 1873, the second oldest public institution in the state of Arkansas. UAPB is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. It is known popularly by its moniker the "Flagship of the Delta".

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, was authorized in 1873 by the Reconstruction-era legislature as the Branch Normal College; a historically black college, it was nominally part of the "normal" (education) department of Arkansas Industrial University, later the University of Arkansas. 

It was operated separately as part of a compromise to get a college for black students, as the state maintained racial segregation well into the 20th century. It later was designated as a land-grant college under the 1890 federal amendments to Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

 As Congress had originally established the land grant colleges to provide education to all qualified students in a state, 

in 1890 it required states maintaining segregated systems to establish a separate land-grant university for blacks as well as whites.

In 1927, the school severed its ties with the University of Arkansas and became Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal (AM&N) College. It moved to its current campus location in 1929. Nearly 50 years later, the college re-joined what is now the University of Arkansas System.

 As a full-fledged campus with graduate study departments, it gained its current name and university status in the process.

Since 1988, the university has gained recognition as a leading research institution in aquaculture studies, offering the state's only comprehensive program in this field. It supports a growing regional 

industry throughout the Mid-South (according to the school, aquaculture is a $167 million industry in Arkansas alone and worth approximately $1.2 billion in the Mississippi Delta region).

 Recently the program was enhanced by the addition of an Aquaculture/Fisheries PhD program.

UAPB's colors are black and gold and their nickname is the Golden Lions.

Arkansas–Pine Bluff's sports teams have participated in NCAA Division I in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) since re-joining the conference in 1998, and competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA)

 for football. Home football games are held at Golden Lion Stadium. Men's sports also include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

The Lions participated in the SWAC Championship Game for the first time in 2006 after recording a 7–2 conference record. The Alabama A&M Bulldogs defeated the Lions (22–13) in the championship game. The Lions finished that season with an overall record of 8–4

The Lions won the SWAC Championship on December 8, 2012 against Jackson State in Birmingham, Alabama. UAPB finished the 2012 season 10-2 and are the 2012 Southwestern Athletic Conference champions.

In 2009–2010, for the first time in school history, the women's soccer team won the SWAC tournament and made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time ever.

 Also the men's basketball team received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as champions of the SWAC. The Golden Lions won the opening round game against Winthrop and were awarded the

 #16 seed in the South Region. The team was eliminated from the tournament in the following round by Duke who ultimately became the NCAA Champions.