James Herman Robinson

Life

Childhood and education

Robinson was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of six children of Henry and Willie Belle Robinson. He spent his early childhood in "The Bottoms," a polluted slum that lay along First Creek in downtown Knoxville. Disenchanted by racism and poverty, Robinson joined a gang that skulked about the intersection of Vine and Central, in what is now the Old City. Robinson served as a vice chairman of the Corps' National Advisory Council.

On May 5, 1964, Robinson appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities to refute suspicions that he harbored communist sympathies. These suspicions arose primarily from Robinson's associations with certain communists in the 1940s, as well as comments he made in his 1954 book, Tomorrow Is Today. Robinson denied ever being a communist, though he stated that before World War II, he had knowingly worked with communists who supported causes (such as civil rights) that he supported.

Robinson was appointed special representative to Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) and Basutoland (modern Lesotho) by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, and later organized cross-cultural efforts in the Caribbean and South America. He died at St. Luke's Hospital in New York on November 6, 1972.

Support of President Kennedy's Civil Rights Project In his commencement speech at Dartmouth College in 1963, Dr. Robinson presented the speech titled:

The Second Emancipation: The Future Belongs Only to the Free

In this speech, he described President Kennedy as one who has "taken a more forthright, open and courageous stand on the right side of the racial question, than any other president".