Pamela A. Smith is a first in law enforcement. The Pine Bluff native is the first African American woman to lead the United States Park Police in its 230-year-old Agency. She’s a 23-year veteran of the United States Park Police, and was also the first woman to lead the New York Field Office as its Major.

The Park Police are a force of 605 officers with jurisdiction in all Federal parks. Beyond that they also investigate and detain persons suspected of committing offenses against the United States. Officers also carry out services for many notable events conducted in the national parks.

She earned her bachelor’s in English from UAPB in 1992. During her decorated law enforcement career, Smith has served as a patrol officer, field training officer, canine handler, academy instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, executive lieutenant to the chief of police, assistant commander of the San Francisco Field Office, commander of the New York Field Office, acting deputy chief of the Homeland Security Division, and deputy chief for the Field Operations Division.

Dr. Jeff Donaldson is an African American artist, art historian, and critic who has helped to articulate the philosophy and aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement in the United States.

Born in Pine Bluff in 1937, Donaldson was three when his older brother started drawing. This encouraged him to start drawing cartoons and comic books as well. Donaldson’s love of the arts continued, and upon enrolling in the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, he established the school’s first arts major.

After graduating with a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Donaldson obtained a Ph.D. in African and African American Art History from Northwestern University.

Through his involvement with the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), a group Donaldson helped form in Chicago, he organized the visual arts workshop that painted the Wall of Respect in 1967. The mural celebrated significant African Americans and set in motion a movement of outdoor murals painted in United States cities throughout the 1970s.

As a painter, Donaldson has participated in more than 200 group and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in Africa, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

He also served as the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University.