Roberts, Homer B.

Impact on the world

Founded Roberts Motors in Kansas City in 1919, growing it into the first African American-owned car dealership in the country and eventually a multi-brand operation selling Fords, Hupmobiles, Rickenbackers, and Oldsmobiles to an almost exclusively Black clientele, at its peak employing 55 Black workers and ranking third nationally in Rickenbacker sales before the Great Depression forced its closure in 1929.

Life & background

A graduate of Kansas State Agricultural College, Roberts became the first Black man to attain the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I before returning to Kansas City to sell used cars, placing his first newspaper advertisement for seven vehicles in 1919 and securing 60 sales to Black buyers within the year. He built the business into Roberts Company Motor Mart, a full-service dealership with a 60-car showroom, repair shop, and parts store that, by 1925, ranked third nationally in sales of the Rickenbacker automobile, while smaller manufacturers increasingly partnered with him specifically to reach Black consumers that larger dealerships excluded from their own showrooms. The Great Depression forced the closure of his dealership in 1929, after which he worked as a broker for white-owned dealerships seeking access to Black customers and later returned to military service during World War II.

Sources

1. Kansas City Public Library (The Pendergast Years); Kansas City Black History; African American Registry