Jo Ann Robinson

Even though Jo Ann Robinson is a native of Culloden, Georgia, she made an incredible difference in Alabama!

Robinson moved to Montgomery to accept a position in the English Department at Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) in 1949.  She joined the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which was later pastored by Martin Luther King, Jr.  While at Alabama State College, she became friends with professor Mary Fair Burks, the founder of the Women’s Political Council (WPC), which encouraged women to become more politically active.

After being verbally abused on a Montgomery bus, Robinson met with attorney Fred Gray and members of the WPC to discuss the issue of the segregated bus system in Montgomery.  In the early 1950s, Robinson and other WPC members met with Mayor William A. Gayle and members of his staff to discuss the problems of the segregated buses.  Despite requests and meetings, the issues of the segregated buses continued to occur.

After the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, Jo Ann Robinson and John Cannon, chair of the Business Department at Alabama State College, and two of her students, mimeographed thousands of flyers calling for a one-day boycott of the buses and distributed them throughout the city.  The boycott continued until December 20, 1956, and helped to begin the modern Civil Rights Movement in the United States.