Bernice Robinson (1914–1994) was an American activist in the Civil Rights Movement and education proponent who helped establish adult Citizenship Schools in South Carolina. Becoming field supervisor of adult education for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), she led political education workshops throughout the south, in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and other states to teach adult reading skills so that blacks would be able to pass literacy tests to vote. Between 1970 and 1975, Robinson worked for the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, supervising VISTA workers and directing day care centers. In both 1972 and 1974, she unsuccessfully ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives, becoming the first African American woman to run for a political office in the state.
Early life
Bernice Violanthe Robinson was born on February 7, 1914, in Charleston, South Carolina to Martha Elizabeth (née Anderson) and James C. Robinson. Martha, sister to Septima Clark′s mother, was a seamstress and James was a bricklayer. Robinson was the ninth and youngest child in the family and attended Simonton Elementary School. She went on to further her education at the segregated Burke Industrial School, completing the ninth grade, the maximum education allowed for African Americans at that time. In 1929, she moved to Harlem to join an older sister, who was living there and the following year married Thomas Leroy Robinson. She completed her high school education at the Wadleigh High School for Girls and dreamed of continuing her education at the Boston Conservatory of Music. When her sister became ill and unable to support them, the girls returned to Charleston, where Robinson had a daughter and divorced before returning to New York in 1936.
Career
Upon her return to New York, Robinson found work in the garment district, working during the day as a seamstress and attending night school at the Poro School of Cosmetology. She eventually opened her own beauty salon and though Robinson worked long hours, enjoyed the financial independence the shop offered. The shop became a meeting place for neighbors and led to her meeting politicians and activists. She registered to vote and became politically active for the first time, mailing flyers for a local assemblyman. In 1945, Robinson took real estate courses while in New York.
In 1947, Robinson returned to Charleston to care for her aging parents. She opened another beauty shop and along with her mother took in sewing for extra money. She joined the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch and worked with them as a secretary and the Chair of Membership. She used her shop as the center of her activism, not only to make contacts, but allowing her clients to have mail sent to the shop so that postal carriers would not be aware of their private business. In 1955, the United Nations held a workshop on school desegregation, which Robinson attended. Esau Jenkins and her cousin, Septima Clark were inspired by the meeting, and began to make plans of how they could increase activism on Johns Island. The workshop opened Robinson's eyes for the first time to the problem of illiteracy and the limitations of being able to only register voters who could read. Jenkins and Clark convinced a reluctant Robinson that she was the perfect person to run an experimental education program because she did not have formal training as a teacher and would not have preconceived notions of structure or curriculum. Beauticians were also highly regarded in civil rights work because they had community respect as entrepreneurs and activists, but were also known as good listeners and were unlikely to face backlash from white employers since they were self-employed. It also helped that Robinson had a fairly good knowledge of Gullah, the creole language spoken on the island.