African-American History Month: Bill Robinson

Bill Robinson (1878-1949)
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was a New York Life policyholder.

Bill Robinson was raised by his grandmother following the death of his parents when he was still a baby. At the tender age of six he began working as a song-and-dance act in local beer gardens. He gradually built a name as a nightclub and musical comedy performer and during the next 25 years became a big name on Broadway. He performed almost exclusively for black audiences until he was fifty.

He was a celebrity within the African-American community. Political figures and celebrities appointed him an honorary mayor of Harlem and a lifetime member of policemen's associations and fraternal orders.

After 1930, black revues decreased in popularity, but Robinson remained in popular with white audiences for more than a decade in many motion pictures produced by such companies as RKO, 20th Century Fox and Paramount. Most were musicals in which he played old-fashioned roles in nostalgic romances. His most frequent roles were opposite Shirley Temple or Will Rogers in such films as "The Littlest Colonel," "The Littlest Rebel" and "In Old Kentucky" (all released in 1935.)

Robinson died in 1949 of a chronic heart condition at Columbia Presbyterian Center in New York City. His body lay in state at an armory in Harlem and thousands paid their respects. He was eulogized by politicians � perhaps more lavishly than any other African American of his time. "To his own people", wrote Marshall and Jean Stearns, "Robinson became a modern John Henry, who instead of driving steel, laid down iron taps." He was buried in the cemetery of the Evergreens in New York City.

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