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…
Update on Rosewood Courts in Austin! Here’s a little background on the Courts: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/phillips-rosewood-courts-more-than-worthy-of-histo/nnN5h/ Here’s a snippet of last night’s (follow link) City Historic Landmark Commission meeting on the matter of it being designated a local landmark. See Item 7A 5 Item 7A 5 C14H-2015-0008 Rosewood Courts 2001 Rosewood Avenue Council District 1 Applicant: Fred McGhee; Historic Landmark…
My husband asked me to accompany him to Philly for work this past week. Though I’m a bit busy, I am so glad I took the time to return to the city I called home for four years. While there, I was able to walk about my old neighborhood, eat at our favorite restaurants, and…
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…
