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…
WPPB Image Addons Dr. Andrea Roberts is an Associate Professor of Urban + Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and has been appointed Co-Director of the School’s Center for Cultural Landscapes. She is a scholar-activist who brings 12 years of experience in community development, nonprofit administration, and advocacy to her…
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…
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…
“At her kitchen table she pulls out an old map from the Navarro County Historical Society and traces her finger from one town name to the next, including several old black communities. “These communities don’t exist no more,” she says. “Babylon, no more. Bethel, no more. Round Prairie’s about gone. Porter’s Bluff, it’s gone.” From…
This is not just about being insensitive or hurtful. People don;t get fired over hurt feelings in America, especially not hurt “Black” feelings. Black people just aren’t that soft. We can’t afford to be. What we can afford to do is demand a workplace that isn’t hostile to our being treated as more than 3/5…
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…
Here’s a great little piece by John Tennison, M.D. on boogie woogie music history, railroads, highways, and Stafford Texas’ barrel house piano great, Robert Shaw. It provides a wonderful explanation for why there should be a historical designation for the corridor. I’ve added a few historical links for those not familiar with the route and…
