Historical Marker

Birthplace of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson

The memorial to Jo Ann Gibson Robinson’s life and birth place. It reads: “Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was born near Culloden. Robinson attended Hudson High School in Macon, later graduating from Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School and Atlanta University. In 1949, she became a professor at Alabama State College in Montgomery, and joined the Women’s Political Council (WPC). During Robinson’s term as president, the organization prioritized the desegregation of Montgomery’s city buses. Following the arrest of Rosa Parks, Robinson played an integral role by creating and organizing the distribution of tens of thousands of leaflets calling for a one-day bus boycott on December 5, 1955. That evening, community and church leaders, capitalizing on the day’s accomplishments, created the Montgomery Improvement Association to continue the boycott. Robinson worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. throughout the boycott until the desegregation of Montgomery’s buses in 1956.”