Theresa Robinson battled to desegregate Milwaukee Public Schools. 'Mama T' wanted all kids to have a great education.

When Theresa Robinson moved to Milwaukee in 1953 with her husband, Alonzo, so he could start a new job as an architect for the city of Milwaukee, she vowed that her children and other Black kids would not have to settle for an education at racially segregated schools with old books.

So in 1965, Robinson and 40 other parents filed a lawsuit to challenge segregation in Milwaukee Public Schools.

The fight, which would last 14 years, eventually allowed students of color who were attending schools in their neighborhoods to attend all-white schools.

Robinson, affectionately known as “Mama T,” died March 15 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. Her funeral was April 2 at Albright United Methodist Church in Milwaukee.

Ironically, Robinson died on the same day — March 15 — that the desegregation case was settled in 1979, said her daughter, Jean Robinson of Clifton, Virginia.

Theresa Robinson’s passion for fair education went back to her own experiences from the 1940s. Then, she walked eight miles round-trip to attend a one-room, racially segregated “School House for Colored” in Fairfax County, Virginia. She was often harassed by white children who were being driven to their schools. They would yell out the windows of the cars, calling Robinson and other Black kids derogatory names.

While the racism was caustic and overt, there was something even worse: a separate and unequal education.

Robinson’s “colored only” classroom was taught by one Black teacher working with children from kindergarten to seventh grade. Meanwhile, the whites-only school had more teachers, new books, more activities and better buildings.

“Mom always told us that there is no substitute for a quality education. She believed the only way to have socioeconomic success was through a great education. She fought all her life for it,” Jean Robinson said.

She was married to Wisconsin's first Black architect

Born in Chantilly, Virginia, Robinson was one of 11 siblings.

After finishing high school, she moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where she would meet and later marry Alonzo, the love of her life.

The Robinsons would go on to have three boys and a girl: Wayne, Ronald, Kim and Jean.

The couple relocated to Milwaukee after Alonzo was hired by the city of Milwaukee as the state’s first Black architect. He would go on to design a series of memorable buildings, including the headquarters for the Polish Association of America, the Doyne Park shelter house, the Hillcrest Nursing Home, McKinley Marina and the Central City Development Corp.

He designed numerous churches, too, including Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church on the city’s north side.

The couple quickly got acclimated to Milwaukee’s Black community and joined St. James United Methodist Church, where Theresa worked and taught both Sunday and vocational Bible schools.

The pair also worked with the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee; activist Father James Groppi; the Wisconsin NAACP; and Civil Rights attorney Lloyd Barbee. And they joined the fight for fair and safe housing.

“I remember my parents both being very active in the struggle,” Jean Robinson said. “We marched, and the entire family was involved.”

Living in a segregated neighborhood, Theresa wanted her children to have a chance for a better education, so she joined with Barbee in the fight to desegregate MPS, Jean Robinson said.

When the suit was filed in 1965, Jean Robinson was just starting kindergarten.

In 1965, Milwaukee was extremely segregated, with nearly every Black living on the city’s north side. Things are better today, but the city is still considered one of the most segregated in the nation.

When the suit was filed, Jean Robinson attended Lee Street School. After Lee Street School, she was supposed to attend Roosevelt, another all-black school, but Theresa got Jean tested to see if she would qualify for "superior ability" classes.

At the time, Hartford Avenue School on the city’s east side had an “SA” program. Her principal at Lee, Frank Spicuzza, helped her to get into Hartford.

“I remember every recess I would play chess with Mr. Spicuzza,” she said

Jean Robinson tested well enough to get into the mostly white school, but teachers held her back the first year to see if she could handle the coursework. She could. After the first year, she was skipped ahead to her normal class, she said.

MPS did not assist with transportation.

“Not too many people were happy that I was attending Hartford. I either caught the city bus, or sometimes I was able to get a ride to school,” she said.

When Jean got into Hartford, her mother’s push to desegregate MPS didn’t stop. Surprisingly, the Robinsons lost some friends because of the desegregation push, Jean Robinson said.

“Not everyone was for it. We understood. But the push was about fairness. One school should not have all the resources while a school in the Black community lacks resources,” she said.

Former MPS Superintendent Dr. Howard Fuller, who wrote his dissertation on desegregation, was against the move because he felt the larger burden fell on Black people.

“Look, I totally respect what (Theresa Robinson) and Lloyd Barbee were trying to do, but when you look at it, white people benefited the most from it,” he said.

Fuller said after he gained access to MPS financial records, he was able to follow the money and see all the dollars generated from busing Black children all over the city, money he felt could have been used to improve neighborhood schools.

A very long fight for justice

Robinson had no idea just how long and how hard the fight would be to win the lawsuit.

In fact, although she initially named each of her school-age children as plaintiffs in the class-action desegregation suit, only Jean was still a plaintiff by the end. The school board doggedly appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and by that time, Wayne, Ronald and Kim had graduated and aged out of the school system.

Although federal Judge John Reynolds made his ruling in 1976, it was not until March of 1979 that the city of Milwaukee actually settled and MPS began taking measures to integrate its schools.

A meeting with President Obama

Aside from being a fighter for educational fairness, Robinson was also a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, and she often worked at the polls and with various organizations to get people to vote.

After a series of mini-strokes that caused her to use a wheelchair, she had a chance to meet President Barack Obama in 2015 at a private dinner.

“My mother was a diva,” Jean said. “She took a picture with President Obama while she was in the wheelchair and then he asked her if she wanted to take one without the wheelchair.”

Theresa stood up out of the wheelchair and President Obama moved it to the side as Secret Service agents tried to assist, Jean Robinson said.

“President Obama told them ‘I got this,’ before taking a picture with Mom. Then I got in the picture with Mom and my daughter,” she said.

In November, Theresa’s husband’s name became part of the Milwaukee Fire Department Administration Building, which he designed. Alonzo Robinson died in 2000.

Jean Robinson said education was the one thing both of her parents will be remembered for.

“When we finished high school, there was no talk of taking a year off," she said. "The only thing that was said was, 'What college are you going to?' ” she said.

In addition to Jean, Robinson is survived by Wayne Robinson of Naperville, Illinois, and Kim Robinson of Milwaukee. Her son Ronald died in 2015.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Theresa Robinson's desegregation fight with MPS stemmed from her past