Jo Ann Robinson was the 12th and youngest of her family. She lived on a Georgia farm owned by her parents and was the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated and went on to obtain a master's degree at Atlanta University, an historically black university. She then taught at another all-black college, Alabama State College, in Montgomery, Alabama. She was active in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and joined the black professional women's civic organization. Robinson drove her own car, so it was not until she had to take the bus to go to the airport that she discovered bus segregation. She sat in the first ten rows and when she finally realized the driver was yelling at her to get up and was preparing to hit her that she ran from the bus in horror and embarrassment. She never forgot this incident and when Rosa Parks was arrested the opportunity was presented to her to join with Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Durr and take action.

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