Shirley Temple Recalls That Bias Experienced By `Bojangles' Robinson Taught Her About Racism. (Brief Article)

Screen legend Shirley Temple, who worked with many of Hollywood's biggest names, said dancer/ actor Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was her favorite star.

And though he was an ingenious tap dancing partner, she also learned her first lesson about racism in America through him.

In an interview with USA Today, Temple Black (her married name), the biggest child-star of the 1930s who later served as a U.S. ambassador, said she was unaware of any color problems when she and Robinson lit up the screen in such hit films as The Little Colonel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and The Littlest Rebel.

That was until the two were in Palm Springs, CA, and she sought him out to teach her a dance number. When she asked what cottage he was staying in at the Desert Inn, she recalled that he wouldn't answer. It turns out he was staying in the chauffeur's quarters over a garage.

"That was the first time it dawned on me that not all people are treated the same.

"He was a classy guy," she said. She went on to say that she hates the hit song Mr. Bojangles.

"It drives me up the wall since it's not about him at all. He was never a bum in jail," she said.
>