At 105, St. Aug’s long-serving president to be honored as piece of Raleigh history
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- St. Augustine’s University honors 105-year-old former president
- Robinson quelled racial unrest and pulled the college’s finances out of the red.
- Tarboro Road Community Center marks 36th year honoring local trailblazers.
Eighty years ago, a young soldier fresh from World War II enrolled at a small, struggling campus in Southeast Raleigh, where he joined the debate team, ran track and then flew into the world with a sociology degree tucked under his arm.
Only 10 years later, Dr. Prezell Robinson returned to St. Augustine’s College with an Ivy League doctorate in his suitcase. This time, he would not only teach and assume a dean’s role at the historically Black campus, he would pull its finances safely out of the red.
And now, at age 105, St. Aug’s former, long-serving president sometimes gets mistaken for a historical figure, a person who exists only in the past tense. But on Saturday, he will get fresh honor from the neighborhood he spent a lifetime boosting.
“He was an awesome president,” said Octavia Rainey, a graduate of what is now St. Augustine’s University. “He cared about the students. He walked around the campus. He was in the cafeteria. He came up to the student union and said “Aren’t y’all supposed to be in class?” and we all started packing our books.”
“A long way to go”
For the 36th year Saturday, Rainey and the Tarboro Road Community Center will pay tribute to “trailblazers” in the College Park and Idlewild communities that surround St. Aug’s.
While Robinson is bed-ridden and too frail to attend the Black History Month celebration, his family will accept the recognition on his behalf and recall his 28 years leading St. Aug’s.
They will recall, Rainey said, how he took the president’s job during a time of racial turmoil and personally addressed students who were starting a riot in the wake of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, persuading them to disperse.
They will also remember that he brought the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday, to campus as the keynote speaker for the 1978 graduating class.
They will likely remember, Rainey said, his words near retirement in 1994 and compare them to St. Aug’s battle to keep its accreditation and its shaky financial ground.
“Students began something 27 years ago that you people today must finish,” Robinson said in his final address to students. “Young people of every description today must aspire for justice and equality. ... Even though the St. Augustine’s of 1994 has come a long way from the St. Augustine’s of 1967, we still have a long way to go. As we approach the 21st century, there’s not going to be room for incompetent people or room for untrained people.”
More on the program
Also being honored Saturday are;
- Dr. Everett Ward, St. Augustine’s president from 2014-19
- The Rev. Nathaniel Cox, pastor of Grace Church
- Archie Willie Lacy Pipkins, a window-washer in downtown Raleigh in the 1940, and family
- Carrie Mae Rogers
- Wilbur Brown
- Alan J. Wiggs
- Leotha and Mary Chavis
The free Black History Month program at Tarboro Road Community center at 121 N. Tarboro St. begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 2:59 PM.