Robert Nathaniel Robinson (June 22, 1906 – February 23, 1994) was a Jamaican-born toolmaker who worked in the auto industry in the United States.
Shortly after his arrival in Stalingrad, Robinson was racially assaulted by two white American workers, both of whom were subsequently arrested, tried and expelled from the Soviet Union with great publicity.
His repeated attempts to visit outside the USSR finally resulted in an approved trip to Uganda in 1974, where he asked for and was given asylum.
He went to local schools and became a skilled toolmaker at the Ford Motor Company during the expansive years in the auto industry.
At 23, fearing he could be laid off at any moment due to the effects of the Great Depression and the institutionalised racism in the United States, and taking into account that a cousin of a friend had recently been lynched in the South, Robinson accepted.
It was so contrary to the lively spirit manifested by the Russian workers going happily about their daily tasks with no thought of tomorrow's loss of job or eviction.
After his second one-year contract expired in June 1932, Robinson went to Moscow to obtain a return ticket to the United States.
[12] After the assassination of Sergei Mironovich Kirov, Stalin's assumed successor, on December 1, 1934, the preferred status of foreign specialists ended "overnight".
[1] Last week that coal-black protege of Joseph Stalin, Robert Robinson, was elected, somewhat to his surprise, to the Moscow Soviet.
[15] The Russians flocked to church that day, surprising Robinson, although after 24 years of Communist rule there were no priests to lead the congregation.
[16] Robinson survived the German invasion of Russia, during which Hitler's army was stopped only 44 miles (71 km) from Moscow.
[1] He also advised and acted in a Russian film production of the American racial drama Deep Are the Roots (Глубокие корни).