Summary of Life of Walter Caldwell Robinson

Get some sense in your head, some God in your heart, some money in your pocket, and a ballot in your hand! This was a message by Walter Caldwell Robinson, who became known as the Silver-tongued Orator as he traveled the country, making speeches to black audiences for the National Republican Committee beginning in 1926. Walter C. Robinson was born the son of sharecroppers in Larkinsville, Alabama, in 1893. His family moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was nine years old. At age 11, Walter worked a part-time job in a foundry each morning before going to school. By age 16, he was operating a laundry business of his own. Walter married his childhood sweetheart and fathered seven children. By age 21, he was a trustee in the Second Missionary Baptist Church. Walter became interested in politics and was elected chairman of the powerful Fourth Wardthe largest black voting precinct in Chattanooga at the time. He eventually organized all the chairmen of black wards and formed the Colored Voters League of Greater Chattanooga. The league became so powerful that it could determine winners in local elections. Walter was chosen alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention each election from 1928 to 1963. Walter C. Robinson and the Colored Voters League supported H. D. Huffacker for commissioner of education in 1927. Huffacker won and gave Robinson a job as a truant officer for the Chattanooga Public School System. His office was located in city hall. Robinsons power and duties extended far beyond keeping black boys and girls in school. The hiring of teachers, janitors, and cooks in the black schools was determined by Robinson. He also recommended the filling of positions in other departments of the city. Robinson worked in this capacity until a candidate that he opposed was elected commissioner of education in 1935. In 1933, Walter began publishing a black weekly newspaper: the Chattanooga Observer. It was the purpose of his newspaper to express his views to benefit the Republican Party, to defeat candidates in local elections felt by Robinson not to be in the best interest of black citizens, and for the purpose of enlightening and unifying the black community. Walter continued to be elected chairman of the Fourth Ward until 1959. He served as chairman of the Colored Voters League until his death. He published the Observer for thirty-five yearsfrom 1933 to 1968. Walter Caldwell Robinson was a successful businessman, an outstanding orator, an astute politician, and a powerful leader. He labored in segregated Chattanooga during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was as revered as religion.