By: Emily Holdorf
When one thinks about the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC), it is often synonymous with words like community, history, and influential women. That sense of fellowship is what drew Sally Robinson to the JLC in 1958. Over the course of her League career, Sally served in a number of leadership roles, including Treasurer, Nominating Committee Chair, and Secretary. Sally described her time in the League as extremely educational and uplifting, from learning how to serve on a board, to learning more about her city, and of course, developing the lifelong friendships that are so special to her. Through those experiences she discovered her true passion was service on a board. This discovery, and the training provided by the JLC, catapulted Sally to serve the community through various organizations. To name a few, Sally has served on the boards of the Charlotte Nature Museum (which the JLC founded), the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library, the St. Francis (now BRIDGE) Jobs Program, as well as being diligently involved in boards and programs at Duke University, where she is an alumna. But her accomplishments don’t end there. In 1988 she was named Charlotte Woman of the Year, is an inductee into the NC Women’s Conference Hall of Fame, and has received the UNC–Charlotte Distinguished Service Award and the Arts and Science Council’s Lifetime Commitment Award.
One of Sally’s most well-known accomplishments is the instrumental role she played in founding The Levine Museum of the New South. Being a native Charlottean, Sally had several connections within the city. When her eighth grade teacher, Ms. Anne Batten of the Mecklenburg Historical Association, called on her with the idea of starting a history museum, giving Sally free reign on how to do so, she quickly accepted the challenge. The first thing Sally did was create an exploratory board, which was comprised of about 18 influential community members with backgrounds in academia. They established a mission statement and focused on telling the story of the South following the Civil War. At this time, in 1990, there was a moratorium in place, preventing new buildings from being built. This meant the board needed to get creative. For the first five years as an organization, the museum operated without walls, hosting oral history training sessions, lectures, and interactive exhibits around uptown Charlotte. In 1995, through grants and fundraising, the museum was able to move into the Clark Tribble Harris & Li building at College and 7th Street. Shortly thereafter, the building was renovated and reopened as The Levine Museum of the New South.
Sally describes a few of the exhibits that the museum has produced over the years, like The Most Democratic Sport: Basketball and Culture in the Central Piedmont; When Southern Women Went to College; and Courage: The Carolina Story That Changed America. There were countless influential citizens and organizations that helped get the museum off the ground. Sally emphasizes that the museum uses history to build community and honor the stories of everyone who contributed. She wraps up her story of founding the museum as a “challenging, rewarding, and satisfying experience.”
Yet it all comes back to the JLC. Sally herself said she owes it all to the League and that her time in the League was a “plus, plus positive!” Sally Robinson and her husband, attorney Russell Robinson, are two of Charlotte’s most admired and ardent community leaders. As a result of their service, Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts at UNC Charlotte is named in their honor. Additionally, the Foundation for the Carolinas flagship program, the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership, is named for the Robinsons. The Center is actively working to address the community’s most pressing challenges and greatest opportunities, from economic opportunity to neighborhood revitalization to education and more. Now 85 years of age, Sally is still involved in community work, but states she is cutting back so she can read less advisory board minutes and more of the New York Times with her husband, Russ.
To learn more about The Levine Museum of the New South and how the organization helps to build a stronger, more equitable community in Charlotte, visit https://www.museumofthenewsouth.org/.
