The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

C. B. Robinson collection

Repository: Tennessee State University. Special Collections and Archives

Collection Description (Extant): This is an interview with the Honorable Clarence Bernard Robinson [born on February 4, 1911], a retired educator and a member of the Hamilton County delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly. Mr. Robinson, for over forty years, has distinguished himself as a professional in the field of education as a teacher and principal and has been at the forefront in various teacher organizations, including the Chattanooga Educational Association and the American Federation of Teachers organizations which have worked to improve the quality of education in our city school system. Most notable were his works in the early forties and fifties in achieving equalization of teacher salaries regardless of race and a tenure law in our city that guaranteed teachers security from unfair termination without due process.

Additionally, Mr. Robinson has worked to insure equality of access to public facilities in Chattanooga, having led the fight to open up the Chattanooga Public Library to black citizens in the early 1950s. Mr. Robinson also was a leading force in efforts to desegregate public facilities such as restaurants, buses and movie theaters to blacks and worked as a leader in the creation and development of the James A. Henry Branch of the Y.M.C.A.

Recently Mr. Robinson was honored for his untiring work by having a bridge over the Tennessee River named in his honor.

Mr. Robinson has been very active in promoting the causes of the underdog and eliminating unjust and unfair practices, simultaneously striving to create peace and harmony among blacks and whites and developing Chattanooga as a city where all can live without fear or malice.

Mr. Robinson remains very active today in the civic affairs of our city in spite of continuous ill health. The interview was conducted by Moses Freeman over a period of several days in April 1983.

Access Copy Note: A transcript of an oral history is available online as well as other items. The collection is currently unprocessed at the archive.

Collection URL: http://ww2.tnstate.edu/library/digital/cbrobcoll.html

Digital Status: Partial

Extent: photograph; manuscripts; 1 transcript

Language: English

Related Archival Items: The oral history transcript is of an interview held at the Chattanooga public library. See the oral history tapes collection database record of that library for more information about the larger collection.

Interviewees: Clarence Bernard Robinson

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African American educators--Tennessee
African American political activists--Tennessee
African American politicians--Tennessee
Civil rights movements--Tennessee
Civil rights--Cases
Discrimination in public accommodations
Segregation in education--Tennessee
Tennessee--Politics and government

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Photographs
Transcripts