Bill Robinson

Lore & Background

Robinson was born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, to Maxwell and Maria Robinson. He disliked the name Luther and exchanged names with his brother William, who later adopted the name Percy. At age five, Robinson began performing as a busker in local beer gardens. A promoter saw him outside the Globe Theater and hired him as a 'pick' in a minstrel show. He later toured with Mayme Remington's troupe in The South Before the War, playing a pickaninny. He teamed up with Al Jolson, with Jolson singing while Robinson danced for pennies.

Reader's Guide

Robinson's significance lies in his transformation of tap dance and his role in breaking racial barriers. Dance critic Marshall Stearns noted that Robinson brought tap 'on its toes, dancing upright and swinging,' adding a 'hitherto-unknown lightness and presence.' His signature stair dance, which he unsuccessfully attempted to patent, became a standard part of his act. He popularized the word 'copacetic' through his vaudeville and radio appearances. Robinson was one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear as black without blackface makeup, and one of the earliest Black performers to perform solo, overcoming vaudeville's two-color rule. He was the first black performer to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel, 1935) and the first black performer to headline a mixed-race Broadway production. He used his popularity to challenge racial prejudice, including efforts to persuade the Dallas Police Department to hire its first black policeman, lobbying President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for equal treatment of black soldiers, and staging the first integrated public event in Miami.

Did You Know?

• Robinson was born Luther Robinson but exchanged names with his brother William, who later adopted the name Percy.
• Robinson unsuccessfully attempted to patent his signature stair dance.