Roberta Johnson Dunbar (died November 1, 1956) was an American

clubwoman The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

and

peace activist A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

based in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. Her first name is sometimes written "Reberta" in sources.Frank Lincoln Mather
''Who's Who of the Colored Race''
(Chicago 1915): 96-97.

Early life

Roberta Johnson Dunbar was born at

Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island Narragansett Pier is an unincorporated village and a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Narragansett in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 3,409 at the 2010 census. Geography Narragansett Pier is locate ...

, the daughter of Daniel and Louisa (Cartwright) Dunbar.

Career

From 1902 through 1905, and again in 1931, Roberta J. Dunbar was president of the

Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs The Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC) is an umbrella organization representing black women's clubs in the northeastern United States. The organization was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NAC ...

, a body of the

National Association of Colored Women The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

(NACW). In 1913, Dunbar was elected as a founding officer of the

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

branch of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

. She was also president of the Working Girls Club in Providence. In 1928. Dunbar was serving as president of the Rhode Island Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. Dunbar chaired the NACW's Peace Department in the 1930s. She addressed the organization's 1937 national convention in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

on the topic, saying "We women want peace, and no woman of any nation is in a better position to bring this Era than the women of America." In 1950, she was elected by the Women's Newport League to be their delegate to the national NACW convention in Atlantic City.

Personal life

Dunbar died in 1956, at the Home for Aged Colored People in Providence.Roberta Dunbar obituary
''Newport Daily News'' (November 5, 1956): 2. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Roberta 1956 deaths Activists from Providence, Rhode Island American anti-war activists Presidents of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs NAACP activists Clubwomen Women civil rights activists

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References