3 days ago
Booker T. grad was one of 3 Black students who integrated Duke, which honors him
There is just something about some people where you know they are in the world for a special purpose. Even growing up in the 1940s and 1950s during the Jim Crow/segregation era didn't diminish that notion.
You just knew they were marked for greatness.
My friend, David Robinson II, is such a person. At its May 11 commencement, Duke University awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to David, who was born and raised in Miami's Overtown.
David was one of three Black students — his fellow law school classmate, the late Walter Johnson of Greensboro, N.C., and a graduate divinity school student, the late R.L. Speaks — to integrate the North Carolina university in 1961.
Months before the three arrived at the school in the fall of 1961, the university's board of trustees had voted to desegregate Duke's graduate and professional schools. It would be two more years before the undergraduate classes would be integrated.
'To have such an honor bestowed on you by an institution like Duke is the icing on the cake,' said David, 85. 'I am glad I am alive for the flowers, and to be able to smell them while I still can.'
David was the seventh of nine siblings. Today, he and his 'baby sister' Yvonne Eickett are the sole survivors of their immediate family.
I first met David when we both attended Booker T. Washington Jr./Sr. High School in Miami. He graduated in 1957; I graduated in 1956.
I still can remember how quiet, friendly and neatly dressed he was. He also was the sweetheart of one of my dear friends, Delores Collie Sands Lockett.
While David took part in the usual teenage things — 'going dancing' in the gym after a basketball game, 'taking company' (courting), and attending events in the school's auditorium — there was always a seriousness about him.
'We didn't call people who acted like him nerds back then,' said Georgena Davis Ford, David's classmate and neighbor. 'But that's who he was. He was a good dude. Smart but quiet and friendly — and a very sharp dresser. We used to call each other 'Boolu.' I don't know where we got that nickname, but it stuck.'
Graduated top of his class at Howard
After graduating from Booker T, David attended Howard University in Washington, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in 1961. It was while at Howard that his life would change.
David was a senior at Howard when Elvin R. 'Jack' Latty, then dean of Duke Law, asked the dean of students at Howard to recommend a student who had the academic credentials and emotional stability to integrate Duke's law school.
'Remember … this was in 1961, years before the Civil Rights Act [of 1964] would be put in place,' David said. 'People were dying just for the opportunity to vote.
'Nobody in my family wanted me to go to Duke. They felt it would be too dangerous, but I saw the scholarship as the opportunity of a lifetime and accepted it. The folks at Duke called me a 'barrier breaker.' But to me, attending Duke University as an African American was simply a no-brainer. I had to go.'
David stayed on Duke's campus and said Latty, a professor and dean at Duke Law for 35 years, became a 'father figure' to him. 'I never had a problem the entire three years I was at Duke,' he said.
When David graduated from Duke Law in 1964, more opportunities were available for Black students and the Federal Reserve Board in Washington hired him as its first African American attorney.
David stayed there for three years before becoming Xerox Corp.'s first Black lawyer — its third lawyer overall. In 1978, he was named senior counsel for Xerox operations on the West Coast
When he retired from Xerox in 1988, David was assistant general counsel. By that time, Xerox had gone from its original three lawyers to more than 100, many of whom David hired.
But David didn't stop there.
'The third and final leg of my legal career was here in Miami-Dade County, where I was appointed general counsel to the 11th Judicial Circuit. I retired from that position in 1999,' he said. He was the Judicial Circuit's first general counsel.
Since his retirement, David has immersed himself in his work at the Second Baptist Church of Richmond Heights, where he heads the seniors ministry and provides pro bono work for seniors.
He is a member of the Booker T. Washington High School Alumni Association, where he helps to raise money for college scholarships, faculty support and academic programs.
He and his wife of 42 years, Wylene, live in the Falls area in South Miami-Dade. They have a blended family of five children and five grandchildren.
'Duke is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the folks there still tell me I was a 'barrier breaker,' ' he said with a chuckle.
And I say that's an understatement.
Grove Arts Festival scholarship winners
Kudos to the 15 talented high school graduates who were each awarded a $3,000 scholarship from the Coconut Grove Arts Festival.
'These young artists are truly extraordinary,' said Dave Hill, chairman of the festival's board, said in a press release. 'Recognizing their contributions to our creative community and helping them pursue their dreams through education is one of the most meaningful things we do each year.'
The $45,000 is part of the festival's $75,000 annual scholarship fund, which also supports students in Florida International University's art programs.
The 2025 high school scholarship winners are:
Alexandra Guerra, Design and Architecture Senior High, Anacarolina Paz, Barbara Goleman Senior High; Anisia Mike, New World School of the Arts; Brianna Vargas, Miami Lakes Educational Center; Emma Chala, New World School of the Arts; Gabriela Cabrera-Flores, Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts; and Janae Crespo, New World School of the Arts.
Also, Layla Hanfland, New World School of the Arts; Leonna Anderson, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High; Lucia Adrianzen, Design and Architecture Senior High; Megan Diaz, Miami Senior High; Konstantina Papadaki, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior; Nyle Jones, Design and Architecture Senior High; Rome Negas, Design and Architecture Senior High, and Sofia Lataczewski, New World School of the Arts.
