Early San Antonio Black-owned business to get historic marker

• The original address and building no longer exist, but the marker will be installed at 610 Indianola St.

Roberts was a community leader, civil rights advocate and founding member of the NAACP San Antonio Chapter.

Flashback: Roberts, whose parents were both enslaved, graduated as the valedictorian from Tougaloo College in Mississippi before moving to San Antonio in 1895, according to UTSA.

• He taught at Norris Wright Cuney School, in what was once the Baptist Settlement neighborhood.
• The 10-square-block neighborhood, which was in the area of present-day Lavaca and Labor streets, was one of the first places where free Black people were able to settle in Bexar County.
• Roberts' business was one of the only grocery stores in the neighborhood.

Roberts befriended Thomas Claiborne "T.C." Frost, founder of Frost Bank, when he moved to San Antonio.

• The banker is said to have loaned Roberts $2,000 in 1896, to help him with his endeavors, a bold move considering the discrimination at that time.