Greenville’s come a long way – and that means there’s a lot of history to explore. We’re looking back at some of the founding figures who helped shape GVL, starting with S.C. legislator Leola C. Robinson-Simpson.

Robinson-Simpson not only wrote the book on the Civil Rights Movement in Greenville, she lived it. At 15 years old, she saw Jackie Robinson speak at the Memorial Auditorium and was inspired by his ability to “speak softly but carry a powerful presence.”

When Robinson prepared to depart in the Greenville Airport after the speech, his group was asked to move to the colored lounge. When they refused, police were called. Robinson asked which GVL law prevented them from sitting in the main lounge, and the officers couldn’t answer.

The incident prompted a march at the airport two months later, where Leola Robinson-Simpson participated alongside organizer Pastor James Hall (chairman of the Greenville Chapter of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality) + Reverend Jesse Jackson.

In the following years, Robinson-Simpson says she was arrested five times for demonstrating at the old Greenville library + outside Woolworth’s, H. L. Green’s, and Kress.

After her early experience with activism, Robinson-Simpson made a career out of publicly advocating for a better Greenville. She served as director of ISP Tutoring for Greenville Technical College for 22 years, and was on the Greenville County School Board of Trustees for 16 years before becoming a state representative.

Since 2012, Robinson-Simpson has been a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Greenville’s 25th District.

Her main focus is improving public education – she proposed a bill last year to mandate seat belts on school buses, co-sponsored a bill that aims to prevent students from ending up in prisons. See her entire list of sponsored legislation here.

She also worked with her son Shakir Robinson (a former professional boxer) to start the Center for Educational Equity Saturday Success School in 2000. The program gave kids from 1st – 9th grade tools to improve academically + when the center relocated to Pendleton St in 2007, Shakir decided to use his boxing experience to create a junior boxing club team there as well. Now the program focuses on building up local kids as students, athletes + citizens – a perfect reflection of Robinson-Simpson’s goals for GVL.