Homer B. Roberts
Homer B. Roberts was front page news when he returned to Kansas City in 1919 after serving overseas in World War I. College educated in electrical engineering at Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State Agricultural College, he was the first African-American commissioned officer in the Army’s Signal Corps and a decorated war hero.
Kansas City in the early 1900s was still a racially segregated city. Where African-Americans could live, eat, work, and shop was restricted by both custom and ordinance. White auto dealers who would actually sell to African-Americans often charged exorbitant, like-new prices for broken down vehicles. Homer Roberts set out to change this and, in the process, carved out an opportunity for himself.
While White-owned auto dealers wanted the increased profits made possible by sales to African-Americans, they didn’t want to cultivate those customers. Enter Homer Roberts. Roberts could contact potential customers within the African-American community, determine the vehicle best suited for the individual’s needs, and arrange the sale, financing, and delivery, for which Robert, as a “broker,” would receive a commission. On April 1, 1919, working out of a second floor office at 1509 E 18th Street, he started selling from the curb.
His primary customer base was professionals – doctors, dentists, lawyers, and business owners. To reach out to them, his began advertising in The Kansas City Sun, a long established African-American weekly newspaper. His first advertisement, a simple list of seven “used car bargains”, ran on May 31, 1919. Throughout 1920, Roberts continued to advertise heavily in The Sun. His advertisements exuded an aura of class and elegance, with artistic borders and bold print. Often included were photos of recently-sold cars and the names and occupations of the new owners. His appeal for African-Americans to support their own community struck a chord. Roberts himself claimed that 85% of all cars purchased by African-Americans in Kansas City during the 1920s were purchased from the Roberts Company.
Roberts relocated to 1516 E 19th Street in 1921 and invited the community to “the formal opening of the Roberts Company salesroom, the only Negro automobile sales room in the world,” complete with souvenirs to ladies and music from 6 to 9 p.m. He also listed 72 customers and urged readers to “remember them in your business dealings.”
By 1923, Roberts came to two realizations: 1) He needed a new, more spacious facility to accommodate a larger showroom. 2) He needed to become a franchised dealer and receive vehicle allocations based on his own sales performance, rather than be at the whims of a contract dealer. The first need was addressed when a new home for the Roberts Company was constructed at 1826-28-30 Vine Street in the heart of the African-American business community. Roberts held a grand opening on July 29th. More than 3,000 attended!
In 1928, Roberts suddenly decided to move to Chicago. The decision may have had something to do with a discrimination lawsuit he filed against the city of Kansas City after being asked to leave the municipal “whites only” golf course. The Roberts Kansas City operation, in his absence, closed at the end of 1929.
Although Roberts had several years of success in the auto business in Chicago, when World War II broke out he reenlisted and was assigned to the Pentagon as Chief of Negro Interest Section and was promoted to the rank of Major. After the war, Major Roberts worked in the publishing/publicity business until his death in 1952.
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The African-American-owned Panama Taxi Company advertised that their upscale Hupmobile cabs “at Ford sedan rates” were purchased “from the Roberts Company.”
Homer B. Roberts owned the first African-American auto dealership in the United States (and possibly the world), right here in the Kansas City Jazz District.
Roberts reached customers by advertising in the Kansas City African-American newspapers of the 1920s, The Sun and The Call, He appealed to African-Americans to economically support their community.
In 1921, Roberts announced “the formal opening of the Roberts Company salesroom, the only Negro automobile sales room in the world.” He listed 72 customers and urged readers to “remember them in your business dealings.”
By 1926, Roberts operated the Roberts Building, an entire African-American retail complex at the corner of 19th and Vine. The Roberts Building was home to a drug store, a barbershop, a beauty shop, a shoe store, a dress shop, a hat shop, a printing company, a delicatessen, and more than a half dozen other professional offices.
The former Roberts Building, once the heart of the Kansas City African-American business community, as it appears today.