St. Clements' randall robinson INN of COURT
The Randall M. Robinson International Inn of Court
At St. Clements' Randall M. Robinson International INN of COURT for Trans-African Law and Development, we offer a wide range of national and international forums and networking opportunities for law students, lawyers, and judges who are deeply concerned about, or who have an active interest in, human rights issues and economic development on the African continent.
The mission of the Randall M. Robinson International Inn of Court is to commemorate the life and legacy of lawyer Randall M. Robinson (July 6, 1941 – March 24, 2023). Our application for full membership in The American Inns of Court is pending.
Randall M. Robinson was an American lawyer, author and activist, noted as the founder of TransAfrica. He was known particularly for his impassioned opposition to apartheid, and for his advocacy on behalf of Haitian immigrants and Haitian president Jean-Bertran Aristide. Due to his frustration with American society, Robinson emigrated to Saint Kitts in 2001.
Early life and education
Robinson was born in Richmond, Virginia, on July 6, 1941, to Maxie Cleveland Robinson and Doris Robinson Griffin, both teachers. The late ABC News anchorman, Max Robinson, was his elder brother. Randall Robinson graduated from Virginia Union University, and earned a J.D. degree at Harvard Law School. He also had an older sister, actress Jewel Robinson, and a younger sister, Pastor Jean Robinson. Both sisters live and work in the Washington, D.C. area.
Career
Robinson was a civil rights attorney in Boston (1971–75) before he worked for U.S. Congressman Bill Clay (1975) and as administrative assistant to Congressman Charles Diggs (1976). Robinson was a Ford fellow.
Robinson founded the TransAfrica Forum in 1977, which according to its mission statement serves as a "major research, educational and organizing institution for the African-American community, offering constructive analysis concerning U.S. policy as it affects Africa and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America." He served in the capacity as TransAfrica's president until 2001.
During that period he gained visibility for his political activism, organizing sit-ins at the South African embassy in order to protest the Afrikaner government's racial policy of discrimination against black South Africans, beginning a personal hunger strike aimed at pressuring the United States government into restoring Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power after the short-lived coup by General Raoul Cedras, and dumping crates filled with bananas onto the steps of the United States Office of the Trade Representative in order to protest what he viewed as discriminatory trade policies aimed at Caribbean nations, such as protective tariffs and import quotas.
In 2001, he authored the book The Debt: What America Owes To Blacks, which presented an in-depth outline regarding his belief that wide-scale reparation should be offered to African Americans as a means to redress centuries of de jure and de facto discrimination and oppression directed at the group. The book argues for the enactment of lineage-based reparation programs as restitution for the continued social and economic issues in the African-American community, such as a high proportion of incarcerated black citizens and the differential in cumulative wealth between white and black Americans.
In 2003, Robinson turned down an honorary degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Personal life and death
Robinson died on March 24, 2023, in St. Kitts, the birthplace of his wife, where the couple had lived for twenty-two years.
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Join Our Network:
The St. Clement's Randall M. Robinson Inn of Court sponsors networking opportunities for Lawyers, Judges, and Law Students who are interested in law and economic development on the continent of Africa.
- Non-Lawyer Professionals: General Membership
- Law Students: Pupil Membership
- Lawyers/ Barristers: Fellow Membership
- Lawyers/Barristers ( 30 + years): Senior Fellow Membership
- Judges/Magistrates: Senior Fellow Membership
** Our Inn of Court's "Master of the Bench," Roderick Ford, Esq., met TransAfrica President Randall M. Robinson (1941 - 2023) on the campus of Morgan State University during the 1989-90 academic term. During this period, Mr. Robinson and many other civil rights advocates were lobbying against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Inspiration for naming the St. Clements' Inn of Court after Mr. Robinson came from this interaction.