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Aminah Robinson

American artist (1940-2015)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ4746390 ↗
Source-derived summary

Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (February 18, 1940 – May 22, 2015) was an American artist who represented Black history through art.

Early life and education

Robinson was born on February 18, 1940, to Leroy Edward Robinson and Helen Elizabeth Zimmerman-Robinson in Columbus, Ohio. She was raised within the close-knit community of Poindexter Village, one of the country's first federally funded metropolitan housing developments. The village was "replete with Black cultural traditions such as storytelling, reverence for elders and promotion of creativity". It was here where she first learnt Black history. Robinson’s Aunt Annie, formerly a slave, taught her about the cruel system of slavery.

Family played a significant role in the formation of Robinson's identity. She was heavily inspired by her parents, Leroy Robinson and Helen Zimmerman-Robinson, who were both artists. Her father encouraged her to draw from the age of 3 and gave her opportunities to learn about her history from elders in the community. He insisted that she listen to music, read literature, and create art every day.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Aminah Robinson” is american artist (1940-2015). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Aminah, Robinson and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1940, 2015—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1940-02-18. For this dossier, Aminah, Robinson and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american artist (1940-2015)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4746390. VIAF identifies the subject as 32940170. The Library of Congress control number is n91099198. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940 and 2015.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Aminah Robinson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Aminah Robinson primary sources, Aminah Robinson archive and Aminah research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Aminah Robinson”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Aminah Robinson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.