| Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 25, 1942 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | October 9, 1967 (aged 25) |
| Organization | Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee |
| Political movement | African-American Civil Rights Movement |
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from its earliest days in 1960 until her death in October 1967.[1] She served the organization as an activist in the field and as an administrator in the Atlanta central office. She eventually succeeded James Forman as SNCC's executive secretary and was the only woman ever to serve in this capacity. She was well respected by her SNCC colleagues and others within the movement for her work ethic and dedication to those around her. SNCC freedom singer Matthew Jones recalled, "You could feel her power in SNCC on a daily basis" (Jones 1989). Jack Minnis, director of SNCC's opposition research unit, insisted that people could not fool her. Minnis was convinced that she had a "100 percent effective shit detector" (Minnis 1990).
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This hard-nosed administrator and legendary activist was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 25, 1942 and spent her childhood in Atlanta's Black Summerhill neighborhood. She was the second oldest of seven children born to Alice, a beautician, and J. T. Smith, a furniture mover and Baptist minister.[2] The Smith children lived a comfortable existence in their separate Black world. They had strong adult support, and they had their own churches, schools, and social activities. At the age of 16, Ruby graduated from Price High School and went on to Spelman College.[3] No matter how insulated they were, however, the reality of American racism and segregation intruded from time to time. Smith-Robinson recalled her feelings about segregation in those early years.
"I was conscious of my Blackness. Every young Negro growing up in the South has thoughts about the racial situation." She also remembered her reaction to the white people she came in contact with when she was a youngster. "I didn't recognize their existence, and they didn't recognize mine. ....My only involvement was in throwing rocks at them." (Garland 1966)
In this atmosphere, young Ruby, like many young Black Americans of her generation, became convinced that change was possible. When Ruby Smith entered Spelman College in 1959, she quickly became involved in the Atlanta student movement after being inspired by the Greensboro North Carolina lunch counter sit-in, which prevented blacks from eating in the same lunch counter as white people did during her sophomore year. She participated in many sit-in's and was arrested a few times after getting involved in Atlanta student movement.[4] She regularly picketed and protested with her colleagues in a bid to integrate Atlanta.
By February 1961 she had become involved in the national movement and joined activities sponsored by the fledgling SNCC such Freedom Rides, community-action organizing and voter registration drives and was arrested many times for participating those activities. The next year, Smith left her position as executive secretary of the Atlanta student movement to become the full-time southern campus coordinator for SNCC. A bold and daring colleague, she was the originator of SNCC's "jail, no bail policy", which was one of her tactics to solve the issue of growing scare bail money and one of the original Freedom Riders.[5] On February 1961, students used the "jail, no bail" tactic, serving jail for 30 days after getting arrested in Rock Hill, South Carolina for participating sit-in of honoring the anniversary of Greensboro. Once she joined the Freedom Riders, she immediately took part of a ride that was going from Nashville, Tennessee to Montgomery, Alabama in May 17, 1961. However, she was violently attacked and was beaten in Montgomery, and was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for traveling inflammatory. After the arrest, She used “jail no bail” by accepting 45 days in Parchman State Prison.[6]
By 1963, she had become SNCC's administrative secretary and a full-time member of the central office staff working as a day by day organizer, financial coordinator and administrator. She was in charge of summer voter registration project in Mississippi, and was responsible for Sojourner Truth motor fleet, which provided civil rights workers transportation.[7] The following year, she argued that blacks must maintain the dominance of the SNCC after the organization had became dependent on whites for financial and political help. One of Coworker believed she "had been anti-white for years." Then, in May 1966, replacing James Forman, she was a first female to be elected as executive secretary.[8] A forceful administrator, Smith-Robinson was responsible for providing logistics and support for the many community organizing initiatives SNCC began in the south and north during the group's Black Power campaign.
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson soon became a legend within SNCC with most early SNCC members being able to recount at least one Ruby Smith-Robinson story. Julian Bond remembered that when a delegation of SNCC staff was preparing to board a plane for Africa in the fall of 1964 to observe the successfulness of the nonviolence technique, an airline representative told them the plane was overbooked and asked if they would wait and take a later flight. This angered Ruby Smith-Robinson so much that without consulting the rest of the group she went and sat down in the jetway and refused to move. They were given seats on that flight. The innovative and determined spirit displayed in her activism was also part of her administrative demeanor. After she came back, she devoted herself to Black Nationalism.
In 1964, while still devoting much of her time to SNCC, she married Clifford Robinson and son, Kenneth Toure Robinson, in 1965. During the same period, she also graduated from Spelman with a Bachelor's degree in physical education.
In January 1967, her health began to decline precipitously, and she was admitted to a hospital. In April of that year she was diagnosed with terminal cancer; she died on October 7, 1967.