Alphonse Robinson Papers

Alphonse D. Robinson was born April 26, 1912 in East St. Louis, Illinois to Carrie Robinson and Allen Parks. He was one of four children, the only one to survive early childhood. He graduated from high school and attended Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, but did not finish. He was drafted into the army and served from 1942-1945. He married Ruth E. Collins, who died in 1998. He moved with his family to Denver in 1950 and worked for the Air Force accounting and finance center until he retired in 1969. He was an organist, choir director, pianist, and composer. A student of Marta Baloghy Teodonno, Hungarian born concert pianist. Chronicled in Choral Music by Afro American Composers, written by Evelyn Davidson White, 1981. Robinson composed "Soliloquy to a Martyred Hero" with collaborators Betty Jean McConnell Brewster and Virgil V. Rosenberger. It premiered in 1976 at the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado. In 1980, he received an Honorary Doctor of Music Arts Degree from Guadalupe College in Seguin, Texas. In 1993, he received a Doctor of Human Letters from Philander Smith College. He died July 2, 2000 and is buried at Fort Logan Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.