Press L. Robinson Sr. began his career as an assistant professor of chemistry at Southern University Baton Rouge. He retired forty-one years later, having served as associate vice chancellor at Southern, chancellor at Southern University New Orleans, and vice president of the Southern University system. The first African American to be elected to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, serving three separate terms as its president, Dr. Robinson is a longtime community activist who believes in equity for all in every segment of our lives.

0:00-3:22 Dr. Robinson reflects on growing up in segregated South Carolina as part of a sharecropping family, and shares the story of the first time he and his mother registered to vote

3:31-5:32 Dr. Robinson describes the work he did to secure three seats representing predominantly-black districts on the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, to which he was eventually elected as the board’s first ever Black member.