Cora P. Roberson was a lifelong resident of Gainesville and led an active life in the Gainesville community. She held a bachelor’s degree from St. Augustine’s Florida Memorial College, and a master of education from the Tuskegee Institute.
Who was Cora Roberson?
Listen to this interview with Cora Roberson recorded by Dr. M. Joel Buchanan, as part of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program's Digital Collection: An interview with Cora P. Roberson, recorded on February 19, 1986. Copyright, 2005, University of Florida.
Cora Roberson was a mother; a school teacher and the first director of the Alachua County Head Start program for 34 years. She remained a committed advocate for reforming inequality in our community.
"Crowell reflected on 50 years of Head Start and gave an overview of the history. She said Head Start was enacted on May 18, 1965, as part of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the centerpiece of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” Crowell said Cora Roberson, a long-standing teacher in Alachua County Public Schools, was the first director, and under her tenure, she encouraged staff to pursue professional credentials for early childhood educators." - The Gainesville Sun, article by Aida Mallard, May 20, 2015.
Roberson led an equally active life serving her community as a church clerk, reporter, Sunday school teacher and as the vice president of the Historic Camelliaettes Club of Gainesville.
Roberson was the president and charter member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Zeta Chapter, the first Black Greek-lettered organization in Alachua County. Her trailblazing efforts were instrumental in bringing Zeta to the University of Florida in 1974 — the first Black Greek sorority on campus.
In 1968, Roberson was one of five candidates to seek election for a Gainesville City Commission seat. She was the first female to seek such honors.
"I believe I can help bring about responsible, orderly change in Gainesville and create an atmosphere in which all families can work to better themselves and their community."
"I am concerned with adequate recreation for all areas of the city and I am pledged to work for establishment of new facilities in the area where the need is greatest."
Roberson advocated for responsive government, closer city/county relations, expanded use of federal funds and the development of a park near Tumblin Creek. She supported an open housing ordinance, a municipally-owned bus system, urban renewal and changing city government’s personnel policies to open all areas and levels of employment to all residents.
Roberson’s City Commission campaign against four white male candidates included many handwritten signs and posters, individually typed notices and letters. She received an endorsement from The Gainesville Sun and ultimately came within 819 votes of taking public office.
Her political run brought out 43 percent of the registered voters in Alachua County and forever changed Gainesville’s political landscape. Roberson served to break the glass ceiling for women and African-Americans who followed her example in seeking elected office in Gainesville, Alachua County and all of north central Florida.
Former City of Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan proclaimed Oct. 11, 2004, as Cora P. Roberson Day and invited all residents to join her in expressing appreciation for Roberson's courage and sacrifice, and acknowledging her responsible leadership and lifelong interest in the Gainesville community.
Read below here the complete proclamation:
City of Gainesville, Florida, Office of Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan
Whereas, in 1968, Cora P. Roberson was one of five candidates--and the first black female to seek election for a Gainesville City Commission seat; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson is a lifelong Gainesville resident, wife, mother of two daughters, an 18-year elementary school teacher having received her B.A. from St. Augustine’s Florida Memorial College, and M.Ed. from Tuskegee Institute; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson has led an active community life including serving as church clerk, church reporter and Sunday School teacher, past vice president of a women’s civic group, Camelliattes Club, past president of Delta Sigma Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, staff member of the University of Florida 1966 Summer Institute in English, and 1967 Institute of Teachers of Disadvantaged Youth; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson, stressed more responsive government, closer city-county relations, expanded use of federal funds, development of a park near Tumblin’ Creek, supported an open housing ordinance, a municipally-owned bus system, urban renewal, and changing city government’s personnel policies to open all areas and levels of employment to all citizens; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson’s City Commission campaign against four white male candidates included many hand-written signs and posters, individually typed notices and letters, several endorsements by the Gainesville Sun and ultimately, a run-off election against another life-long resident Perry C. McGriff, Jr.; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson, came within 819 votes of the winner, brought out 43% of the registered voters and forever changed Gainesville’s political landscape; a campaign best summed up in the words of a telegram she received: “Congratulations for such a grand and courageous effort. Best wishes for your continued interest in the civic affairs of our city. You’re still a winner in our book”; and
Whereas, Cora Roberson, served to break the glass ceiling for women and African Americans who followed in her footsteps in seeking elective office in Gainesville, Alachua County and all of North Central Florida.
Now, Therefore, I Pegeen Hanrahan, by the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Gainesville, do hereby proclaim October 11, 2004 as
Cora P. Roberson Day
in the City of Gainesville and invite all our citizens to join me in expressing our appreciation for Cora Roberson’s courage and sacrifice, recognizing the depth of her contribution and acknowledging her responsible leadership and lifelong interest in the community.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the official seal of the City of Gainesville, Florida, this 11th day of October, A.D.,2004.
Mrs. Roberson's panel interview (GWER) from 2009, courtesy of Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida.
Rosa Parks committee to honor women of courage
Excerpt: November 23, 2009, The Gainesville Sun, Cleveland Tinker
Four women who have spent their adult lives committed to the struggle for civil and human rights and justice have been chosen as the recipients of the 2009 Rosa Parks Quiet Courage Committee of Gainesville’s Quiet Courage Award. This year’s honorees are Mary Hall Daniels, Dr. Gwendolyn Zohara Simmons, Cora Roberson and Carol Thomas.
... Cora Roberson is a lifelong east Gainesville resident and retired educator. She graduated from all black Lincoln High School in 1943 when it was located at what is now the A. Quinn Jones Center on Northwest Seventh Avenue. She received her bachelor’s degree from Florida Normal Industrial Institute in St. Augustine in 1950. The school is now known as Florida Memorial University and is located in Miami. Roberson earned her master’s degree in education in 1962 from Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, in Tuskegee, Ala.
Roberson, 85, said she is the first woman to ever run for the Gainesville City Commission. That was in 1968, and she said she was deputized by the NAACP in the 1950s to help register blacks to vote.
“Back in those days, a lot of blacks were scared to vote because they (whites) would ask questions like, ‘How many marbles are in this jar,’ and of course, it was no way anybody could tell how many were in the jar, and when you answered the question wrong, they would call you ignorant and tell you couldn’t vote,” Roberson said.
Gainesville park renamed to honor Cora P. Roberson
Cora P. Roberson has experienced a lot in her 95 years — the Great Depression, Jim Crow laws, segregation, the civil rights movement, desegregation, the election of an African-American president.
At a Saturday ceremony, surrounded by her sisters in the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Roberson had a very personal experience.
Tumblin Creek Park, on the corner of Southwest Sixth Street and Depot Avenue, was renamed in her honor. She had pushed the Gainesville City Commission to create the park.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Roberson said. “I am a proud woman because I can do things to help people.”
Tumblin Creek runs along the west side of the park, so it was a natural choice when the city adopted this land as a city park to name it after the creek, City Commissioner Harvey Ward said.
“But if you know the history of how this land came to be a park, you inevitably see the impact that Mrs. Cora P. Roberson had in creating a space where young and old could gather to relax and play,” Ward said. “That is the history we celebrate today in renaming this park for the dynamo that made it happen.”
"Our family is so proud of our beloved aunt, Cora P. Roberson Park. Her compassion is colossal, her humility is enormous, her generosity is mammoth and her influence is great and far reaching to the magnitude of birthing educators and entrepreneurs for three generations in our family, not to mention a legacy of Zetas. We are forever grateful to Auntie Cora for being the epitome of scholarship, service, sisterhood (sisterly love) and Finer womanhood in our lives. We love and appreciate her." – Janelle Chambers, great-niece of Charlie and Cora P. Roberson
In the picture left to right: Elaine Hemingway Fordham, Helen Hemingway Norman, Dr. Mary Breaux Wright, Janell Ward Chambers and Faith Jones Salters.
Blue was the color of the day — it’s the color of Zeta Phi Beta, and Roberson and many others were dressed in it.
The sorority petitioned the city to name the park after Roberson, and Mary Wright, the 24th international president of the sorority, was at the ceremony. She spoke about Roberson’s leadership in civil rights, equal rights, education and other causes.
At the ceremony renaming the park the Cora P. Roberson Park, Mrs. Roberson noted that it was the best day of her life.
Left side of the signage Back row (l-r): Yvette Clarke, Danialle Riggins, Ebony Love, Debra Fields; 2nd row (l-r): Xaviera White, Sabrina Williams, Alena Lawson, Demeatrice Gibbons, Darry Lloyd; 3rd row (l-r): Yvette Carter, Dr. Mary Breaux Wright, Gail Watson, Doug Williams; Front row (l-r): Cora Roberson, Paula Kay, Melvena Wilson (kneeling). Right side of the signage Back row (l-r): Kenya Trice, Ruth Morris, Shareen Baptiste, Traci Bowling, Patrice Fletcher; 2nd row (l-r): Sharon Gaye Roberson Jackson, Tracey Coward Johnson, Belinda Clark, Teneeshia Marshall, Keturah Acevedo, Chanda Ross; Front row (l-r): sitting – Verna Johnson, Lizzie R. Jenkins, Jean Kiner, standing – Kandra Albury.
“We are so excited and happy for Mrs. Roberson. She did not allow anyone to tell her what she could do or could not do,” Wright said. “Mrs. Roberson is like a tea bag. A woman is like a tea bag — you never know how strong she is until you throw her in hot water.”
24th International President Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Mary B. Wright, currently based in Houston, Texas.
"I became a Zeta in 1984 and was immediately drawn to Cora Roberson. She was always socially conscious and extremely active in the community. She took me under her wings, and I was inspired by her resolve to make a difference. Because of her conviction and courage to run for a seat on the Gainesville City Commission against a person from an influential family, I decided to run for office. It is because of Cora Roberson’s influence that I served 13 years on the Newberry City Commission. So many Black politicians stand on her shoulders, especially Black women. She opened the door for all of us. I am forever grateful for her being an agent of change and a living example of a committed community advocate." – Alena Lawson, former member of the Newberry City Commission and past president Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Zeta Chapter
Explore further
- A Timeline of Events that Affected the Development of Gainesville Women's Movement Community
- Records of the Gainesville Women for Equal Rights (GWER)
- "I Realized I Was Somebody": Gainesville Group Celebrates 100 Years Of Women Voting And Modern Women’s Liberation
- History and the people who make it: Gainesville Women for Equal Rights – Part 1
In recognition
A special thank you to Linda Cue, reference librarian, for pouring over and locating many of The Gainesville Sun news clippings saved in the microfiche Alachua County Library District's collection.
A special thank you to Deborah Hendrix, for sharing materials and images from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida.
Special thanks to City Manager Lee Feldman, Assistant City Manager Deborah Bowie, Park Operations Manager John Weber, Program Coordinator Kim Harris and the many people from the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department who all worked so diligently to ensure a rededication ceremony occurred to honor Mrs. Roberson.
A special thank you to Yvette Carter for collecting all images and memories made available for this presentation.
"It is such an honor to be in the presence of Gainesville’s own hidden figure. Cora Roberson fought for equality for women, Black people, her students with financial challenges – for everyone. She has been a person leading from the front her entire life. She has built a legacy of love, civil rights, social justice, and community service that has become a lighthouse to guide each of us." – Yvette Carter, executive board chair, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Zeta Chapter
The City of Gainesville was scheduled to release this presentation on the 16th anniversary of Cora P. Roberson Day in October. Because of Mrs. Roberson’s passing on Sept. 24, 2020, it is being published now in reverence to her committed service to our community. We honor the memory of Cora P. Roberson: 1924-2020.