Beverly Robinson, 56; Folklore Expert

Beverly Robinson, a leading African American folklorist and popular UCLA theater historian who championed multiculturalism and focused scholarly interest on such seemingly mundane aspects of modern life as the decoration of backyards in South-Central Los Angeles, has died. She was 56.

Robinson, a professor in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television since 1978, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

For more than 20 years she taught African American theater history, tracing the development of theater created and performed by African American artists from slavery times to now. She also originated a speaker series at UCLA that brought to campus such celebrated artists as Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and John Bubbles.

Nationally known for documenting expressions of African American heritage and folk culture, she was one of the first black folklorists in what had been a field dominated by whites.

Her published studies ranged from “Aunt (Ant) Phylis,” which focused on the role of wise women in African American communities, to “Home and Yard: Black Folk Life Expressions in Los Angeles,” which theorized that the arrangement of black families’ backyards reflected influences of African culture.

In one of her last projects she was the lead scholar on a folklore survey in Eatonville, Fla., the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States. One of the most famous residents of the central Florida town was Zora Neale Hurston, the Harlem Renaissance figure, writer and Barnard College-trained folklorist, who worked under harsh conditions to preserve the folk traditions of rural Southern blacks in the early 20th century.

“Beverly was like a modern-day Zora Neale Hurston,” said Peggy Bulger, director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington.

“She really was able to do some of the most seminal work in terms of what African American traditions have contributed to American life. She was able to document craft and music. She would document family traditions and food ways, such as how okra and grits contributed to American food today. She was able to do the broad brush of the culture.”

Robinson also was a documentary photographer whose 1977 studies of black life in inner-city Chicago and rural Georgia were featured in traveling exhibitions of the Library of Congress.

She later produced and curated shows at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and the Library of Congress that highlighted her interest in black dolls and puppets. In 1981 she organized the South-Central Los Angeles Folklife Festival as part of the city’s bicentennial celebration.

She frequently was hired as a consultant in Hollywood, offering advice on such films as “Coming to America” and “The Color Purple.”

Born in Los Angeles, Robinson grew up in Berkeley. She planned a career in computer engineering and came to UCLA in 1968 to work as a technician. She audited a course there that changed her life. Taught by veteran actress Madie Norman, it was called “History of Black People’s Theater in America.”

“My computer degree was my family’s goal, but I loved the arts,” Robinson said in a 1997 interview for a UCLA publication. “I listened in that class, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to pursue my own dream.’”

She became a full-time student, eventually earning a master’s degree in folklore from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in performing arts and history from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1978, Norman asked her to take over her course in black theater history until a permanent replacement could be found. Robinson wound up teaching it for more than two decades.

Under Robinson, the course became more eclectic and dynamic.

“Beverly showed the greatness of culture that, even though it might not have been recorded, could be seen through performance,” said UCLA theater professor Michael Hackett.

“There was always an event in her class,” Hackett said. “You could go and see Leroi Jones or four gospel singers from a local church or someone giving a lecture on Josephine Baker. It was very exciting.”

Robinson also led an effort in the late 1970s to diversify the faculty and broaden the theater school’s Eurocentric curriculum to include works from African, Asian, Native American and Latin cultures.

“Beverly was the catalyst for change in our department that established without question the legitimacy and need for multicultural perspective in our classes,” said UCLA theater professor Hanay Geiogamah. “In terms of multicultural, diverse, ethnic theater, Beverly led the way.”

She is survived by her father, five sisters, nieces and nephews. A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m. today at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has established a scholarship in Robinson’s name. Contributions may be sent to The UCLA Foundation/Beverly Robinson Award, c/o Rosalee Sass, director of development, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Box 95122, Los Angeles CA 90095-1622.