Theotis Robinson Jr. was within the fifth grade when the beliefs of justice and civil rights had been emblazoned into the thoughts of the person who has spent a lot of his storied profession preventing for variety and fairness in training.
Robinson, a foundational determine in College of Tennessee historical past, grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, the place he and his mom, Alma, would take heed to the radio, discussing historic elections and admiring the braveness of civil rights leaders. Robinson would quickly be part of their ranks.
Born in 1942, he was an aspirational baby who had his life deliberate out lengthy earlier than highschool. He would go into the Air Drive, adopted by faculty, legislation faculty after which run for political workplace. He set the bar excessive for himself and he was culturally conscious, which he credit to his dad and mom who grew up in rural Mississippi and Georgia with out the identical alternatives towards their training.
“I had all of it found out,” says Robinson with fun. “I’d be part of the Air Drive as a result of I had this love of airplanes, go to school, run for Senate, after which change into President.”
Sitting at a convention desk donning considered one of his many personalised ball caps, on this present day one which reads “good bother”, he shares fond reminiscences of the Black educator who set the tone for his total life.
“Her identify was Mrs. Drake. I used to be in her homeroom class,” he says. “She performed the piano and he or she had a tune she would all the time lead that mentioned, ‘We’ve been proper there in line, we’re Individuals too.’ So, she instilled this in us together with the understanding of what the USA was presupposed to be. She was instructing us the beliefs of Black Pleasure lengthy earlier than the time period was a factor. And that caught with me,” he provides.
Whereas enrolled at Knoxville’s Austin Excessive Faculty, Robinson joined classmates in a failed try to desegregate the all-white East Excessive Faculty, resulting in the landmark Josephine Goss v. Knoxville Board of Schooling case. Later, he participated in sit-ins at Knoxville lunch counters in the course of the summer season of 1960 and downtown movie show demonstrations, protesting segregation together with different cities throughout the South. These experiences solidified his dedication to justice and resistance.
In 1960, a newspaper advert was run within the native newspaper that caught Robinson’s consideration. It highlighted the College of Tennessee’s exclusion of Black college students. So, he submitted a letter of software to the school.
“I had already been collaborating within the sit-ins and civil rights demonstrations, so once I learn that article within the paper, I knew that too, was one thing I might do one thing about,” he remembers. “So, I wrote a letter, took it downtown and dropped it within the mailbox. I didn’t even seek the advice of my dad and mom. A few weeks later I received a response to it within the mail that mentioned, ‘I’m sorry however we don’t settle for Negros.’ I knew they should have been screening me, so I took it a step additional and wrote one other letter demanding a gathering with the 2 males who signed my rejection letter,” says Robinson.
He and his dad and mom met with then UT President Andy Holt, asserting his taxpayer rights and the necessity for change. By threatening authorized motion, Robinson lastly persuaded the Board of Trustees to confess him to the College. He enrolled together with two different college students, that following semester on January 4, 1961, changing into the primary African American admitted to the state’s flagship college. The remainder is historical past.
All through his life, Robinson constantly challenged the established order, breaking new floor at each flip. He by no means made it to the Air Drive or legislation faculty, however he made his political goals come true. In 1970, he grew to become the primary Black individual elected to the Knoxville Metropolis Council in over half a century, serving two phrases. Afterward, he led financial improvement efforts for the 1983 World’s Honest the place he fought for Black inclusion. Robinson later returned to the College of Tennessee, initially as a political science lecturer. In 2000, he was appointed UT System’s vice chairman of fairness and variety, a job he held till retiring in 2014.
In 2019, he grew to become the recipient of each an honorary doctorate in social work and a Distinguished Alumnus award for his a long time of dedication and repair to racial equality, the very best honor awarded by the College of Tennessee Alumni Board. In 2021, UT honored him by naming a dormitory after him, ‘Robinson Corridor’ on the Knoxville campus.
At 83, Robinson stays devoted to supporting the following era. He understands the challenges that Black college and directors face at predominantly white establishments.
“You have got entrenched racism, passive resistance, and limitations to navigate,” he says. “It’s all about coverage—you must make adjustments there to see actual progress.”
Throughout his tenure as vice chairman, Robinson labored to cut back commencement disparities for males of colour and helped launch campus chapters of Brother to Brother, a nationwide group supporting African American and Latino male college students.
Having been a younger married faculty pupil with 5 youngsters by the age of 28, and who took programs whereas working full-time, he is aware of personally the on a regular basis hurdles many younger women and men face whereas making an attempt to complete faculty.
Robinson additionally stresses the significance of civic engagement, significantly voting and working for workplace.
“It’s one factor to be standing on the surface attempting to get anyone on the within to do the fitting factor. That may be a troublesome factor to do,” he says. “However for those who get on the within your self, you are able to do it your self. We actually want individuals in our communities to change into extra civically engaged and attend these conferences the place selections are being made.”
To ease college students’ paths, Robinson and his household established the Theotis Robinson Jr. Flagship Pathway Scholarship Endowment in 2021. The scholarship helps graduates from 38 designated excessive colleges throughout Tennessee, renewable for as much as 4 years and combinable with different scholarships.
“For those who aren’t woke, you’re asleep,” he says. “So, I hope to develop prospects for college kids who seem like me and forge a path for them to change into future leaders who perceive the worth of an training.”
