Bernice Robinson
Bernice Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | September 3, 1994 (aged 80) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Educator, civil rights advocate |
| Known for | Founding adult Citizenship Schools in South Carolina; first African American woman to seek elected office in South Carolina |
Bernice Robinson (1914–1994) was a prominent American educator and civil rights advocate who played a key role in founding adult Citizenship Schools in South Carolina. As the field supervisor for adult education at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), she facilitated political education workshops throughout the Southern states—including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee—aimed at teaching literacy skills that enabled Black individuals to successfully navigate voter registration requirements. Between 1970 and 1975, Robinson contributed to the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers by supervising VISTA volunteers and managing childcare facilities. She also broke barriers as the first African American woman to seek elected office in South Carolina, running for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives in both 1972 and 1974.
Early life
Bernice Violanthe Robinson was born on February 7, 1914, in Charleston, the daughter of Martha Elizabeth (née Anderson), a seamstress, and James C. Robinson, a bricklayer. The youngest among nine siblings, she attended Simonton Elementary School before finishing ninth grade at Burke Industrial School—a segregated institution offering the highest grade accessible to African Americans at that time. In 1929, she relocated to Harlem to live with an older sister and married Thomas Leroy Robinson the following year. She completed her high school education at Wadleigh High School for Girls and harbored ambitions to attend the Boston Conservatory of Music. After her sister became ill, Bernice returned to Charleston, had a daughter, divorced her husband, and moved back to New York in 1936.
Career
Upon returning to New York, Robinson found work as a seamstress in the garment district while pursuing night classes at the Poro School of Cosmetology. Eventually, she established her own beauty salon, which provided financial independence and allowed her to cultivate relationships with political figures and activists. In 1945, she expanded her skills by enrolling in real estate courses in New York.
Robinson went back to Charleston in 1947 to care for her parents and opened another beauty salon there, supplementing her earnings through sewing. She became active in the local NAACP chapter, holding positions as secretary and Chair of Membership. Her salon served as a center for activism and discreet communication with clients involved in civil rights efforts. Inspired by a 1955 United Nations workshop on school desegregation, Robinson resolved to tackle literacy and voter registration obstacles on Johns Island. Collaborating with Esau Jenkins and Septima Clark, she helped initiate an experimental educational initiative that utilized her standing as a respected beautician and her familiarity with the Gullah language.
With limited formal training from the Highlander Folk School, Robinson began instructing practical literacy classes in 1957 that focused on everyday tasks such as reading labels and completing forms. This initiative developed into the Citizenship Schools program, which expanded across the South under SCLC's guidance. Robinson volunteered as both an instructor and trainer across several states while overseeing the Low Country Citizenship Schools. In 1967, she furthered her education through correspondence courses in Community Development and interior design.
In 1970, Robinson departed from SCLC to join the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers (SCCFW), where she supervised VISTA volunteers and facilitated the establishment of childcare centers on various islands. She managed the creation of the Yonges Island Day Care Center between 1971 and 1973. Marking a historic milestone, Robinson became the first African American woman to campaign for public office in South Carolina by running for the state House of Representatives in 1972 and again in 1974. After returning to SCCFW in 1975, she directed day care programs for migrant workers before transitioning to a role as loan and relocation officer with Charleston County Community Development Department until retiring in 1982.
Death and legacy
Robinson passed away on September 3, 1994, in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1991, Eliot Wigginton released Refuse to Stand Silently by: An Oral History of Grass Roots Social Activism in America, 1921–1964, which includes oral accounts from Robinson alongside other prominent Civil Rights figures. Her archival materials were entrusted in 1989 to the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston. In 2011, Clare Russell offered a critical analysis of Robinson's contributions in her essay titled A beautician without teacher training: Bernice Robinson, citizenship schools and women in the Civil Rights Movement. Russell contended that Robinson’s influence has been undervalued, emphasizing her extensive education and career background rather than categorizing her simply as an untrained instructor.