Robinson said that his first claim, filed through a federal attorney and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was denied when it got to Washington, D.C.

The attorney, he said, told him that because of the people involved, the claim would be jerked around and sent back.

The second time the suit was sent, it stuck.

Thus began the trial of Robinson versus Caulkins Indiantown Citrus Company. The class action suit was filed claiming the employer had disproportionately underpaid wages and benefits to hundreds of African American employees.

Robinson had also inadvertently chosen to go up against one of the most powerful men in the country, he said.

George P. Caulkins was the managing general partner for Caulkins Indiantown Citrus Company. A man of influential power, he was a friend to the first President George Bush and son-in-law to Henry Ford, Robinson said.

Caulkins may have had no idea what happened in his business in South Florida.

During depositions, he claimed he had more than 20 businesses he didn’t even know about when inquiries into his holdings began, Robinson said.

“He must have employed people from there that painted a picture that it was all fine,” Robinson said.

Which meant that as long as the profits poured in, little question would be raised, he said.

During the next 12 years, death threats, racial harassment, murder and a thwarted abduction of one of Robinson’s sons marked the passage of the litigation, he said.

Robinson also struggled to find work.

A self-described gifted welder and steel fabricator, Robinson combed the five counties in South Florida for employment.

The suit against Caulkins would force Robinson and his family to give up everything they had worked for — business dealings, their home, and a comfortable middle class living.

But most notably, the family gave up their safety.