Robert H. Robinson

Rev. Robert Henry Robinson (1824–1909), His slaveholder was George Washington Parke Custis, Martha Washington's grandson. In the 1820s, Caroline agreed to participate in lengthy interviews with historian Jared Sparks under the condition that Robinson was freed. He was sold to a Quaker named Miller in 1834. He was apprenticed to a banker and businessman from Arlington named Robert Jamieson. During this time, he learned to read and do arithmetic. He was freed in January 1846, at 21 years of age.

Career Robinson was ordained to the ministry by Bishop Matthew Simpson, who was Abraham Lincoln's spiritual adviser. He was a pastor of Roberts Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church established by African Americans, on South Washington Street in the city of Alexandria. Throughout his career, he was the minister to churches in the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

In 1864, he and two of his sons organized the earliest Emancipation Day observances in the city for African Americans. The celebration attracted Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, and John M. Langston. In 1888, Robinson's two sons established the African American political newspaper, The Washington National Leader, also called The Weekly Leader. R.B. (or Robert B.) was the business manager, and Magnus was the managing editor. Frederick Douglass Jr. was the associate editor.

He became the fourth Grand Master of the Freemasons for the District of Columbia in 1854. He became a Grand Master in West Virginia in the 1880s.

Death and legacy He died on November 22, 1909. In 1911, a ten-foot high monument was erected for him at the Bethel Cemetery on South Payne Street in Alexandria, Virginia, by his two sons, Rev. R.B. Robinson and Magnus L. Robinson. He is named on the Truths that Rise from the Roots monument in Alexandria, Virginia.