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J. A. Robinson was born in Arkansas in May 1869. He was admitted to practice law by the state supreme court on June 15, 1893. That same year, he joined with Black attorney Scipio Jones in a law partnership in Little Rock (Pulaski County, Arkansas) that lasted until 1896. In 1901, he was a member of the Wonder State Bar Association, a Black lawyers group. In 1902, he, Archie V. Jones, and Scipio Africanus Jones (not related) created the Independent Political League and offered their own slate of candidates for county offices in opposition to the regular political parties. Robinson does not appear as attorney of record in any matters appealed to the state supreme court. In 1900, he had been married to Emma E. for nine years and owned his home. He died on July 14, 1937.
Sources: Judith Kilpatrick, “(EXTRA)Ordinary Men: African-American Lawyers and Civil Rights in Arkansas Before 1950,” 53 Ark. Law Rev. 299, 302 n6, 339, 345, 357 n434, 372 (2000); The Colored Lawyers, Arkansas Gazette, 7/31/1901; D.B. Gaines, A.M., M.D., Racial Possibilities as Indicated by the Negroes of Arkansas (1898); 1895 – 1896 City Directory;