Frederick Madison Roberts
Frederick Madison Roberts (born September 14, 1879 in Chillicothe , Ohio , † July 19, 1952 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) and entrepreneur. He was a member of the California State Assembly from 1912 to 1934 . He was the first African American to be elected west of the Mississippi in the 20th century .
family
Roberts was born to Andrew Jackson Roberts Ellen Roberts and was descended on the maternal side of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings . He had a younger brother, William Giles Roberts. In 1921 he married Pearl Hinds, with whom he had two daughters. His daughter Gloria later became a pianist and Patricia a businesswoman.
Life
When Roberts was six, the family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles, where his father founded the first black-owned funeral home. He attended Los Angeles High School and was the school's first black graduate and a successful man on his high school football team. He then studied first at the University of Southern California and then at Colorado College . During his studies he worked in the administration of El Paso County . He attended the Barnes-Worsam school of embalming and mortuary science to be able to take over his father's business.
After graduating, he moved to Mound Bayou ( Mississippi ), where he head of Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute was. In 1912 Frederick M. Roberts returned to Los Angeles. Here he founded the New Age Dispatch (later New Age ) newspaper , an influential medium among African Americans at the time. He campaigned against the use of the word "Negro" in his publications. That was the headline "Another Negro lynched " in his newspaper "Another American lynched". He was also involved in the NAACP , which is how Roberts got into politics. First, he ran for the Board of Education (education committee) and lost the election. In 1918 he stood for election for the State Assembly. His opponent advertised with business cards that read "My opponent is a nigger". Roberts narrowly won the election. During his time in Parliament, he was active in education, wrote anti-lynch laws for California, and advocated civil rights. He was instrumental in founding the University of California, Los Angeles and became known as the Dean of the Assembly . In 1934 he was defeated by the Democrat Augustus F. Hawkins and resigned from parliament. He was still active in his party and, for example, took part in the Republican National Convention in 1952.
He died in 1952 of injuries sustained in a traffic accident.
Honors
In 1957 he was named in honor of the Fredrick M. Roberts Park in Los Angeles.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Robert Lee Johnson, Notable Southern Californians in Black History , The History Press, Charlston 2017, ISBN 9781626195813 , pp. 75–78.
- ↑ Frederick Madison Roberts , African-American Families of Monticello
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Roberts, Frederick Madison |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American politician and newspaper publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 14, 1879 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chillicothe , Ohio |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 19, 1952 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |