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Charles Richard Robinson II -
First Black superintendent of one of the largest school districts
in Illinois (outside of Chicago)
Charles Richard Robinson II, youngest child of Lula Parker Robinson and Charles Richard Robinson was born in East St. Louis July 2, 1905. When he and his older brother, McHenry were born, their mother already had two living children by a previous marriage, John and Mahalia Curtis. John, who was valedictorian of his Lincoln High School graduating class, died at an early age. The Robinsons helped Mahalia through Northwestern University in Chicago, kept Mac and Richard in school until they finished high school, and encouraged them to go to college also.
After high school graduations Richard and his brother worked several jobs and took turns attending the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where each pledged the Negro fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. McHenry graduated from U of I with a Bachelor's in Accounting, earned a Master's in Accounting at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and became a CPA. Richard transferred to Indiana University at Bloomington, earned a Bachelor's in Mathematics, and later earned a Masters in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Richard taught mathematics extension courses for the University of Illinois, and continued to attend the U of I during the summers earning over 36 additional credits toward a doctorate. Richard, upon request, solved numerous mathematical problems for professors at St. Louis University, and Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Richard wanted to be an architect and his brother wanted to be an accountant. Since those professions were not open to Negroes at the time, they became teachers at their alma mater, Lincoln Jr. Sr. High School. In addition to their teaching assignments, Richard served as Dean of Boys and his brother coached the football team until his appointment to principal of Washington, Franklin, and Carver Elementary Schools. A newly built Lincoln High School at 1200 Bond Avenue opened in 1950, the old Lincoln at 11th and Broadway became Hughes-Quinn Jr. High School. When Richard was appointed as the first principal of Hughes-Quinn, it was the first time in the history of East St. Louis that two brothers were principals at the same time. Richard was eventually elected as the first Negro president of the principal's association.
As principal, Mr. Robinson, set the example and required all of his teachers, to achieve excellence in the classroom and provide positive role models for the students. He frequently went into the classrooms and demonstrated teaching methods and techniques for his teachers. He arranged for Colored students from surrounding areas including Brooklyn/Lovejoy to attend classes at Hughes-Quinn. He also performed registrar functions and planned the curriculum and schedules for over 2000 students per semester so that no one was forced into half-day sessions, and all students attended classes with other students at the same achievement and comprehension level. When the school started getting overcrowded, he used his architectural skills to design an addition to the old building, built a scale model of the design, and convinced the city leaders to finance the addition.
If asked, most of his teachers and former students would describe him as: "hard but fair", and he always fought for fairness and justice for his students, teachers, and staff. Case in point: during a multi-school track competition, a student from Hughes-Quinn set a new track record; the track judge confirmed the achievement but the governing board refused to change the record because "the old record has been in place for so long". Robinson immediately and went as high up the administrative level as necessary to force the governing board to acknowledge the achievement and include the Hughes-Quinn student 's name and score in the record. Later as assistant superintendent of schools, in another incident, he observed a disparity in the distribution of textbooks between the two public high schools. The students at the White high school were receiving new textbooks, while the students at the Colored high school were to receive older, used textbooks "because it's always been done that way". Robinson changed that policy immediately, and subsequently corrected numerous other iniquities in the school system.
After his retirement in 1968, he was asked to come out of retirement and accept a position as the first Black superintendent of schools in East St. Louis. Convinced that his skills and experience could be useful, and because he felt that the position of superintendent would enable him to improve the system to the benefit of all of the students and citizens of E. St. Louis, he agreed to serve. During his tenure as superintendent the district was removed from probationary status by the state; instructional programs were improved; the physical appearances of facilities were improved; new schools were built; the district handicapped program was recognized as one of five best programs in the state and slated for use as a model for handicapped students as far away as Ketchikan, Alaska; a Public Relations Department was established to keep staff and community informed on activities, policies, procedures and other school matters; the Special Education Program was recognized and chosen as exemplary because of it's continuity from early grades through secondary level; programs in vocational education for handicapped students were implemented; a Curriculum Center was established for coordinators and supervisors; Intensive Training Programs were implemented to upgrade citizens from menial jobs to semi-professional; an Adult Education Center was established; Project Speak, an all-language program for disadvantaged students was implemented; the Demonstration Project and Cooperative Voc-Ed Work Study Program was implemented to provide vocational education with credit hours and monetary compensation for high school and adult evening school students.
During his private and professional life Mr. Robinson counseled and mentored countless youths, adults, and professionals from the East St. Louis Metropolitan area, and continued to be a role model through out his life. Numerous African-Americans from East St. Louis, who came under Mr. Robinson's tutelage, have experienced phenomenal achievement in Law, Medicine, Education, Media, Science, Business, Athletics, Politics and numerous other professions locally, nationally, and internationally.
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The achievements of his superintendency were collected from the contents of a scrapbook so graciously presented to Mr. Robinson by Dr. Katie Wright, upon his retirement from Superintendent of the East St. Louis Public School System, District 189.