In winter 1961 Theotis Robinson Jr. was one of the first three undergraduates to attend UT. Robinson, whose father was an employee of UT, applied in July 1960 and was not admitted because of his race. He and his father then met with UT President Dr. Andy Holt, insisting that he be admitted, under threat of legal action. Dr. Holt asked that no suit be filed until after the fall board of trustees’ meeting, at which he discussed Robinson’s demand and called upon the state’s attorney general to discuss the issue. The attorney general stated that segregation was illegal. The board of trustees opened enrollment to all races in all programs of the university. (Graduate and professional schools had been integrated in 1952, and extension courses were integrated in 1959.) Robinson did not earn a degree.
As a senior in high school in 1959, Robinson had been one of 17 plaintiffs in the Josephine Goss v. Knoxville Board of Education lawsuit seeking to desegregate the public school system in Knoxville after attempting to enroll in all‐white East High School. He also participated in demonstrations, such as lunch counter sit‐ins and stand‐ins at downtown movie theaters.
In 1969 the method of nominating candidates for city council (and the school board) changed from an at-large system to one in which city council members were nominated by district, with the top two candidates from each district running at large. This assured, because of housing patterns, that there would be an African American elected to the city council, and Theotis Robinson was the candidate elected. He joined the university staff in 1989 as a student assistant and then became a part-time legislative aide in the Office of Federal Relations. He was appointed equity and diversity administrator of the university in 2000 by President J. Wade Gilley, and the position was retitled as a staff vice president in August 2000. Robinson was vice president of economic development for the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair, served on Knoxville City Council from 1970 to 1977, and wrote a column for the Knoxville News Sentinel.