Editing Bill Robinson (section)

==Early life==
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia on May 25, 1878, to Maxwell, a machinist, and Maria Robinson, a church choir director. He and his younger brother William were raised in Richmond's [[Jackson Ward]] neighborhood. His grandmother Bedelia Robinson, formerly [[Slavery|enslaved]], raised him after both of his parents died tragically in 1884: his father died from chronic heart disease and his mother from unknown causes. Details of his early life are known only through legend, much of it perpetuated by Robinson himself. He claimed that he was christened Luther, a name that he did not like. He proposed to his younger brother William that they should exchange names, and they eventually did.<ref name=HASKINS>{{cite book|title=Mr. Bojangles: the Biography of Bill Robinson|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mrbojanglesbiogr00hask/page/26 26–28]|publisher=William Morrow and Company|year=1988|location=New York|isbn=0688072038|first1=James|last1=Haskins|first2=N. R.|last2=Mitgang|url=https://archive.org/details/mrbojanglesbiogr00hask/page/26}}</ref>
His brother subsequently adopted the name of Percy and achieved recognition as a musician under that name.<ref name=CULLEN>{{cite book|title=Vaudeville, Old & New : An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America| volume=1 | page=942| publisher =Routledge | year=2007| location=New York| isbn=978-0415938532| first1=Frank |last1=Cullen |first2=Florence|last2=Hackman|first3=Donald|last3=McNeilly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&pg=PA942 }}</ref>