[2][3] Returning to the United States, Robbins purchased a home in Washington, D.C. which he decorated with the 33 items he had brought back from Europe, and adorned the rooms with tropical plants to evoke the jungles of Africa.

"[3] He established the beginnings of a freestanding museum near Capitol Hill in 1963, raising $13,000 and taking a mortgage to purchase for $35,000 half of a home at 316-18 A Street Northeast that had been the residence of abolitionist Frederick Douglass from 1871 to 1877.

[2][3] In succeeding years, Robbins raised money to acquire the remaining half of the Douglass house, naming it the Museum of African Art.

Robbins had raised funds to purchase from a Manhattan art gallery a bearded icon called Afo-A-Kom, considered sacred by the Kom people of West Africa, which had been taken from a hill-top village in Cameroon in 1966.

Returning the figure, Robbins was welcomed by Nsom Nggue, then king of the Kom people, greeted by men and women in tribal dress.