Barbara A. Robinson is an American politician who represents the 40th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates

Maryland House of Delegates

The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland, and is composed of 141 Delegates elected from 47 districts. The House chamber is located in the state capitol building on State Circle in Annapolis...

.http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa13601.html Robinson is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland

Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to the Maryland General Assembly...

.

Background

Robinson was born in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 at a time when the South was not particularly kind to people of color. Homeless at the age of 16, Robinson was determined to get a high school education and graduated from Spencer High School in Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

; http://www.bethel1.org/barbararobinson.html then she received financial aid to go to college in Baltimore.Where She Met her husband of 46 years Jerome Robinson. Delegate Robinson attended the University of Baltimore

University of Baltimore

The University of Baltimore , located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood at 1420 N. Charles Street, is part of the University System of Maryland. Through the Freshman Initiative or Lower Division Initiative, UB has transformed from an upper division university to a...

 where she earned her B.S. in business management in 1975 and Coppin State College with a M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in criminal justice in 1976.

Autobiographer and self help author

In 1993, Robinson published her first book, And Still I Cry, an autobiography depicting her troubled past, filled with physical abuse, sexual molestation, domestic abuse, mental anguish. In 1998, her second book, Yes You Can, which focused on entrepreneurship was published. Her third book, Eyes of the Beholder, a novel was released in 2002. Her fourth book, Someday Is Now was released in 2004.

Three open seats

During the four year term prior to Robinson's candidacy for the House of Delegates, two of the delegates, Howard "Pete" Rawlings and Tony Fulton, died while in office. Marshall Goodwin and Catherine Pugh were appointed to finish their terms. Rawlings and Fulton were democrats, as are Goodwin and Pugh. Prior to the 2006 democratic primary, the only incumbent delegate in the district, Salima Marriott, decided to run for the Senate seat being vacated by the district's senator. Catherine Pugh also decided to run for the same seat leaving the newly appointed Goodwin as the only incumbent in the race. The vacancies drew a large crowd of contenders; http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=12161 including Robinson, Frank Conaway, Jr. and Shawn Tarrant, who all finished ahead of Goodwin. The General Election in November, therefore, featured all newcomers for the three open seats.

General election results, 2006

• 2006 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – 40th District

Voters to choose three:

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Frank M. Conaway, Jr. Frank M. Conaway, Jr. Frank M. Conaway, Jr. is an American politician who represents the 40th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates. Conaway is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland.-Background:...  Dem.	16,432	32.4%	Won
Barbara A. Robinson, Dem.	16,032	31.6%	Won
Shawn Z. Tarrant Shawn Z. Tarrant Shawn Z. Tarrant is an American politician who represents the 40th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates. Tarrant is a member of the House Health and Government Operations Committee, Insurance Subcommittee and Secretary to the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland.- Background... , Dem.	13,921	27.5%	Won
Jan E. Danforth, Green	4,135	8.2%	Lost
Other Write-Ins	177	0.3%

Legislative notes

• voted for the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007 (HB359)
• voted in favor of prohibiting ground rents(SB106)http://mlis.state.md.us/2007RS/votes/house/0250.htm
• voted in favor of increasing the sales tax by 20% - Tax Reform Act of 2007(HB2)http://www.mdchamber.org/docs/ss_hb2.pdf
• voted in favor of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in 2007 (HB6)http://mlis.state.md.us/2007RS/votes/house/0690.htm
• sponsored House Bill 30 in 2007, allowing the state to confiscate unused portions of gift certificates after 4 years.House Bill 30