Imani Tailly, News Editor
When the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) opened in 1892, the school had 15 faculty members and almost 200 female students. It was the first public institution to offer the opportunity for higher education for women. It opened with only two buildings and a focus on educating a generation of teachers for the state. The school president, Charles Duncan McIver, quickly realized that in order to manage the growing school, he would need someone to oversee the teams of cooks, janitors, handymen, and more. He called on Ezekiel “Zeke” Robinson, who had worked as McIver’s servant during his time teaching at the Peace Institute located in Raleigh. Robinson arrived a few weeks after the university’s opening and was given the role of “General Factotum.”
In his role, Robinson managed the growing staff of the school, with up to 42 people during the 1894-1895 school year. His role included tasks such as ringing the school bell, located at the time near the alumni house, lighting fires to keep the buildings warm, delivering the campus mail, and much more. Robinson became an essential part of keeping the campus functioning and well-maintained. Robinson also worked as the porter to the college president, chauffeuring for the campus and managing the president’s appointments. This also included driving the president to meet with people such as Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and Anna Howard Shaw. Robinson got to watch the evolution of the university as it transitioned from horse and buggy to cars, and to central heating from the fireplaces he used to light. He got to see the campus grow as the student body increased from 200 to over 2,200. He served three university presidents, including McIver, Julius Foust, and W.C. Jackson. Robinson lived off-campus along with the other African American staff in a small, segregated, and far away neighborhood to the west of campus. There, he and his wife had four children. One child, a boy named Charles, died at a young age. His other two sons, Ed and Milton, moved to New York where one became a well-known orchestra leader, though it is not known which one. His only daughter, Annie, named after Charles McIver’s daughter, attended Bennett College in 1932 and became an educator here in Greensboro.
In 1944, after 52 years of excellence with the university, Robinson had to retire due to health challenges. This did not stop Robinson from coming to the university whenever possible, mainly for the Founder’s Day celebration in October, saying that he would, “…come to work on his good days, and that the college will have to get along as best it can when he can’t make the grade.” When Robinson retired, he was awarded a $300 gift from the university as a symbol of its “appreciation of his long and faithful service to the college.”
Sadly, on December 1, 1960, Ezekiel Robinson passed away in a local nursing home at the age of 93. He was the last surviving member of the first-year team of the State Normal and Industrial School. He was laid to rest in the Maplewood Cemetery, originally a place for African Americans to bury their loved ones during segregation.
Today, Robinson’s memory lives on at the school through the Ezekiel Robinson Staff Emeritus Award, awarded to staff with emeritus status who retire from the university with a record of “…long, distinguished records of service, dedication, and leadership to the university.”
Ezekiel Robinson is one of many African Americans who helped, served, and shaped what would become UNCG. Though we do not know all their names, stories, or what became of them and their families, we are privileged to be able to learn, remember, and honor Robinson for his love and dedication to this school.
