John C. Robinson

A segment featuring John Robinson's story aired during an episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on February 7, 2018.

On February 19, 2015, a reading garden at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia was dedicated to commemorate Robinson's contributions to Ethiopian aviation during and after war with Italy.

In 1944, after Ethiopia's liberation by the Allies, Robinson returned to the country to establish a pilot training school. He also played a role in the foundation of Ethiopian Airlines. He died in Addis Ababa on March 27, 1954, from injuries he suffered in a plane crash.

For his service, Robinson received considerable press attention for his service through NBC Radio, the Transradio Press Service, and the Chicago Defender. Robinson returned to the United States in 1936. Contemporary historians also recognize his achievements in Ethiopia. Robinson's documented achievements in Ethiopia are considered to be the catalyst that inspired demands for social equality to allow African-Americans to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and allowed for the organization of the African-American military pilot group, the Tuskegee Airmen, during World War II. Robinson is therefore sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Tuskegee Airmen".

In January 1935, Robinson announced his intentions to volunteer to defend Ethiopia in its ongoing conflict with Italy,. The announcement took place at a meeting of black business owners and community leaders sponsored by the Associated Negro Press (ANP) in Chicago. Dr. Melaku Bayen, a cousin of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, became aware of Robinson's announcement and qualifications, and met with Robinson directly. Bayen subsequently made a favorable recommendation for Robinson to Selassie. In April 1935, Selassie wired an official invitation to Robinson offering an officer's commission in Ethiopian.

Robinson completed his education at Gulfport High School for the Colored in 1919, where he developed a strong interest in mechanics and machinery. However, Robinson could not continue his education in Gulfport; African-Americans were barred from continuing their education beyond the tenth grade. Robinson subsequently made preparations to attend the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He first attended college at the Tuskegee Institute in September 1921 to study automotive mechanical science, graduating three years later. In addition to studying automobiles, he learned math, literature, composition and history. He repeatedly applied to the Curtiss-Wright School of Aviation in Chicago, but was denied each time. He ended up getting a job there as a janitor and unofficially sat in on classes until an instructor managed to secure a place for him, and was the first black student at the school.

John Charles Robinson (November 26, 1905 – March 27, 1954) was an American aviator and activist who was hailed as the "Brown Condor" for his service in the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force against Fascist Italy. Robinson pushed for equal opportunities for African-Americans during his early career, and was able to open his own eponymous aviation school in addition to initiating a program for black pilots at his college, the Tuskegee Institute. Robinson's achievements as an aviator were in stark contrast to the limited opportunities for most African-Americans in aviation careers, and were an important factor in reducing racially based prohibitions in the United States. Robinson is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Tuskegee Airmen" for inspiring this all-black group of pilots who served in the United States Army Air Forces following the United States' entry into World War II.

Robinson was born in 1903, in Carrabelle, Florida, and spent his early years in Gulfport, Mississippi. His birth father died when he was a baby, leaving him and his four-year-old sister, Bertha, with their mother Celeste Robinson, who then married Charles Cobb. Robinson was inspired by flight at an early age. According to one account, in 1910, Robinson was seven years old when he witnessed a float-equipped biplane flown by John Moisant in Gulfport, Mississippi.