Shani Baraka Women's Research Center

Amina Baraka

Born Sylvia Robinson, born 1942, in Charlotte, North Carolina – multi-talented artist (dancer, actress, singer/poet, and political activist).
 
Parents Ruth (garment worker) and James C Robinson were divorced when she was five. She was sent to her grandparents, Leona (domestic worker) and Patrick Bacote (construction worker). Sylvia grew up in Newark, New Jersey. She attended Arts High School where she majored in Art.
 
Sylvia early in life developed a love and respect for the working class and the labor union movement.
 
In 1960, Sylvia married Walter...