Dates

• Existence: 1877 - 1971

Biography

Sarilda C. Robinson was born in Holmes County at Pickens, Mississippi on September 23, 1877 to Isabella Marshall Robinson and Amos Griffin Robinson. Sarilda Robinson married S.K. (Samuel King) Phillips in 1905 during a double ceremony with her youngest sister Fannie Robinson and Dr. Cornelius M. Wilson. In 1910 the couple moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi. Sarilda Phillips attended Rust College and received her A.B. degree in 1931. Phillips taught at Rosenwald School in Holly Springs, and was also an instructor for adult education. She taught for thirty years and then served as the first Jeans Supervisor of Schools in Marshall County, a position she held for eighteen years. Phillips was forced into retirement in 1956 following desegregation. A few months after her forced retirement, Phillips had to go on welfare.

Phillips' husband, S.K. Phillips died in 1966 following 61 years of marriage. Sarilda and S.K. Phillips had no children but were close to their nieces and nephews. In 1970, Sarilda Phillips went to Des Moines, Iowa to live with her niece, Gwendolyn Wilson Fowler, who was the daughter of Fannie and Cornelius Robinson. Phillips died April 29, 1971.

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