African American Heritage in San Antonio

Research, Recognition, and Texas Historic Subject Marker

UTSA Center for Cultural Sustainability, 2021-2022 (PI: Charles Gentry ; Client: local benefactor ; Collaborators: Tracie Quinn, William Dupont, community stakeholders)

Historic view of P.F. Roberts’ former grocery store in San Antonio’s Baptist Settlement neighborhood. Photo courtesy of UTSA Special Collections.

 

As a researcher at UTSA-CCS, our team collaborated with UTSA’s African American Studies Program to bring the built vernacular heritage of properties associated with San Antonio’s African American community to light through a couple projects. One had a broad scope: to assess how this unique and endangered heritage is being preserved and offer possible strategies that could help save surviving resources, perhaps even combating gentrification. Another was more specific: to bring recognition to an under-appreciated hero of the local civil rights movement, P.F. Roberts, through research into his former home and businesses, culminating in the state of Texas erecting a Historic Subject Marker honoring his legacy.

P.F. Roberts (back row, third from left) among the faculty of Douglass High School, 1931.

The project that broadly assessed how current tangible and cultural heritage of the African American community in San Antonio resulted in a summary report, which can be read here on the UTSA-CCS website. Our team reached out to civic leaders, historians, local officials, and other stakeholders to understand what actions had been undertaken, which were being planned, and what further steps need to be taken to properly recognize the local African American community’s achievements. I helped run these outreach sessions, researched strategies that could be adopted, and co-authored the report.

The other project, pertaining to the legacy of P.F. Roberts, was more detailed in pursuit of formal recognition of his legacy in the form of an official State of Texas Historic Subject Marker. I primarily authored the narrative application and guided it through the regulatory approval process. In 2024, the marker was finally erected on E. César E. Chávez Blvd at the site where his grocery store once stood.

Roberts was distinguished early on as an educator, a career he maintained for the course of his life. However, he rose to local prominence through his business running a grocery store at 301 Victoria Street in what was known as the Baptist Settlement. This was one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city and a highly multi-cultural area before red-lining forced ethnic minorities out of the city center. Roberts was one of the few African American business owners in the city during the Jim Crow era. As the community was displaced, he eventually moved his business east to operate out of his home. Ultimately, the entire neighborhood was acquired under eminent domain for Hemisfair ‘68 and the building was razed in 1965.

Roberts’ home on S. Pine Street (built circa 1910) not only became the site of his business, but he also regularly conducted NAACP meetings at his residence throughout the early twentieth century. Roberts was a charter member of the San Antonio chapter, served as its sixth president, and was the longtime branch treasurer. Numerous prominent figures in the Civil Rights movement were received at this location, despite harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence. The house still stands and remains in the family. I created measured CAD drawings of the building as part of our research. Although its condition has deteriorated over the years, it maintains high integrity and is deserving of recognition. Very few sites in the Denver Heights neighborhood are historically designated, and it is our hope that many of them will be properly recognized and preserved.

Press

In the early 20th century, San Antonio was “red-lined” in a discriminatory lending practice, largely confining the African American community to the east side of the city (area in red was considered “hazardous” for financing).

P.F. Roberts’ former grocery store (building location marked with the red square) no longer exists today as the whole neighborhood was razed in the 1960s, consolidating the African American community east of the central business district.

Floor plan of P.F. Roberts’ former residence as it exists today (with some rooms heavily racked). The central hallways and front bedroom (shown bottom right) are believed to be part of the original construction (c. 1910).

Field survey of a detached garage that belonged to P.F. Roberts. Photograph courtesy William Dupont.