In 1974 Robinson finally found a way to leave
the U S S R via a trip to Uganda and the backing
of Idi Amin.
At some point Robinson had met in Moscow
Matthias Lubega, the Ugandan Ambassador to the
U.S.S.R. and in 1973 Lubega extended him an
invitation to spend his annual holiday in Uganda
in the following year, 1974. Apparently the
Soviet authorities found it expedient to allow
the trip and finally gave Robinson the necessary
travel documents. His long years under the
regime made him suspect that the authorities
would prevent him actually leaving; he hid the
travel documents behind his wallpaper to thwart
any K G B agent sent to retrieve them. In his book
there is a heart-stopping account of the last
minute bureaucratic obstacles which nearly put a
stop to his longed-for 'escape'.
In 1974 Robinson landed in Uganda and was
welcomed by Idi Amin with an offer of citizenship
and a tertiary-level teaching post. He refused
the citizenship but accepted the post; the Soviet
authorities were informed that he would remain
in Uganda to teach. While teaching he met and
married Zylpha Mapp. He apparently tried again
to regain Jamaican citizenship, but believed that
the old newspaper articles from 1955 told against
him. He was however able to obtain a US ‘green
card’ and he and his wife left Uganda as the Idi
Amin regime disintegrated at the end of the ‘70s.
With further assistance from Bill Davis he once
again became a US citizen in December 1986, at a
time when the Russian industrial economy within
which he had worked so long, was about to be
reformed by Gorbachev’s ‘perestroika’.
In May 1988 his book 'Black on Red', recording his
Russian experiences and written in collaboration
with Jonathan Slevin, was published by Acropolis
Books. He had hopes of writing more books and of
revisiting Africa, but clearly still fearing the
Soviets, vehemently rejected any idea of
revisiting Russia. He and his book were
frequently cited in books and videos on Russian
and Black history topics, and in 1991 the B.B.C.
produced a documentary on his life entitled
‘Reluctant Comrade’.
After his death from cancer, a memorial service
was held at Howard University in 1994, and Bill
Davis and Matthias Lubega, meeting for the first
time, were among those who eulogized the
‘Perfect Gentleman’ from Jamaica and extended
their sympathies to his widow, Zylpha
Mapp-Robinson.
