Tags: Asheville, Asheville Citizen-Times, featured, Henry Robinson, newspaper, reporter

News obit: Henry Robinson, first African-American reporter at Asheville Citizen-Times, dies

Jason Sandford September 30, 2014

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Henry Robinson, the first African-American reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper, has died, according to a Facebook post by former colleague and reporter Tony Kiss.

Robinson covered everything from local history to sports, and he served as religion editor for several years. He was a quiet leader in the newsroom, showing up every day as the best-dressed man in the building. At his retirement, the Hillcrest Highsteppers drum and majorette corps paraded through the second-floor newsroom of the Citizen-Times in his honor.

More on Robinson from the Urban News:

Henry Robinson was the first African American print journalist to work for the Asheville Citizen and Asheville Times. From 1968 through his retirement in 1999, Robinson wrote editorials, features, columns, and sports reports, and he was religion editor for many years. Since retirement he has undertaken the task of writing a book about overlooked Asheville history.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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2 Comments

Stephanie in west Aville October 1, 2014

Hello and thank you, Melissa, I really enjoyed reading those rare tidbits….this is what we need more of–to get to know our people!

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Melissa September 30, 2014

I loved Henry and it was an honor — and a lot of fun — to get to know him when I was new at the paper. He could not believe a black woman was covering the city council beat when I started and he actually called me just to say so. Considering the paper was founded by a Klansman (or at least a Klan sympathizer), to see me reporting and then editing on the metro desk there tickled him to no end. He was also moved when they hired Virgil Smith as publisher/president. He saw so much, knew so much — and was an awesome man to be around. He also knew a lot about the Asheville Blues Negro League baseball team and could talk for hours about it, as well as all aspects of Asheville’s history. Rest in power, Henry. You were a treasure.

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