Biography/History

Robert Saul Starobin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 4, 1939. His father was Joseph R. Starobin, a university professor, political analyst, and influential member of the Communist party. In 1961 Robert received his B.A. from Cornell University, his M.A. from the University of California-Berkeley in 1962 and his Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley in 1968. As a graduate student at Berkeley he was active in numerous causes and organizations, including the Free Speech Movement in the academic year 1964-1965. During the same period he became president of the Graduate History Club, led the Graduate Coordinating Committee's attempts to rejoin the student governing body, the Associated Students of the University of California (A.S.U.C.), and was one of the leaders of the Teaching Assistants' Union. He accepted a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1966, became an assistant professor there in 1968, and joined the SUNY-Binghamton faculty in 1970. In February 1971 he committed suicide.

Starobin wrote or edited several monographs and articles; his books included:

• Blacks in Bondage, Letters of American Slaves, ed. (New York, 1974).
• Denmark Vesey, The Slave Conspiracy of 1822, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1970).
• Industrial Slavery in the Old South (New York, 1970).