2023- Present, Principal Investigator (PI), Outsider Preservation Initiative, Presidential Initiative of the Andrew Mellon Foundation. A four-year program investing in commemorative practices and storytelling projects. I manage research and program staff to create a web portal, community of practice, host symposia, develop new pedagogy, and make grants to descendant-led place preservation projects. Commemorating Black place preservation and persistence…
Chronicling the stories and resilience of Texas freedom colonies facing erasure, and of the efforts of descendant community members to safeguard them. Since Emancipation, Deep East Texas has been a place where Black Texans have experienced oppression yet also have created free Black communities. Well into the Jim Crow era, the area was home to…
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS/SCHOLARSHIP (* denotes students) Forthcoming 2026-27 Book Roberts, A. Never Sell the Land! Freedom Colonies, Black Storytelling, and Keeping Home. In copy editing, the University of Texas Press (2026). Book Book Chapter Roberts, A. “The Black Parti: Reinterpreting African American Placemaking as Design Ideation,” Rewriting American Architecture, Edited by Charles L. Davis II, Kathryn…
“The standard image of Southern slavery is that of a large plantation with hundreds of slaves. In fact, such situations were rare. Fully 3/4 of Southern whites did not even own slaves; of those who did, 88% owned twenty or fewer. Whites who did not own slaves were primarily yeoman farmers. Practically speaking, the institution…
I have a lot to say about the movie Selma, but I frankly feel like I’ll need to see it again before I play armchair filmmaker. What I do feel confident talking about is Selma as a storytelling enterprise. Storytelling is on my mind a lot lately. Mostly because it is a large part of…
Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice: Preserving the Gift of Black Sacred Music from GodFilms | A ministry of GBOD on Vimeo.
By Andrea Roberts* I spoke yesterday with Jeremy Nelloms, descendant of Nancy Bradshaw. Nancy Bradshaw was a former slave who attained an impressive 300 acres of land after emancipation located in today’s northeast Houston, Texas. The land is located a few blocks off I-10 East. Her family still owns the land, and the historic African…
I grew up going to rodeos. Yes, this little black girl went to rodeos. They were all-Black and held in Richmond and Rosenberg. Sometimes they had a little chittlin’ circuit show associated with them, but mostly, it was just lots of Black cowboys and cowgirls doing their thing. Apparently, the lowest and highest caliber of…
Sandy Spring Residents Fight To Save Homes Montgomery County officials say the road to their homes doesn’t exist, so what have they been using for 100 years? Originally posted on January 21, 2008. Take a look at this summary of the Sandy Spring Farm Road Dispute: … The story is about property owners who, until…
So I had the delightful privilege of riding back from the Guadalupe Mountains with my friend Greg. Besides serving as the National Register Coordinator for the Texas Historical Commission, Greg has a passion for road side art, African American “Green Guides” sites, and just all kinds of cool stuff. The NPS park was celebrating the…
