Robinson, Rubye

née Rubye Doris Smith

(born April 25, 1942, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—died Oct. 9, 1967, Atlanta) American civil rights activist whose short life proved to be a powerful influence on the Civil Rights Movement.

Rubye Smith had little direct contact with whites while she was growing up. At age 13, however, she watched the television coverage of the boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system, and the sight of large numbers of African Americans refusing to submit to racist policies made a strong impression. When Smith entered Spelman College in 1959, she soon became involved in nonviolent demonstrations to integrate Atlanta and was one of the first participants in Atlanta's lunch-counter sit-ins. By 1961 she had joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). While protesting student arrests in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Smith herself was arrested and, in accordance with SNCC's “jail no bail” strategy, served a 30-day jail sentence. Following her release, Smith risked mob violence by joining the Freedom Riders in their mission to revoke state laws that mandated segregation on interstate travel. She was again arrested, this time on a charge of “inflammatory” traveling.

In 1964 Smith married Clifford Robinson. Even after the birth of a child, she continued to work as a professional activist, and in 1966 she became SNCC's first female executive secretary. SNCC had become increasingly militant, but Rubye Robinson continued to give the organization her full support, although she was in only partial agreement with chairman Stokely Carmichael's outspoken endorsement of violence. She resigned her post with SNCC when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and she died shortly thereafter.