William Roberson (c. 1836-1878) was an American barber, proprietor of a bathing and shaving saloon with a
Victorian Turkish bath, and civil rights activist in
St. Louis, Missouri. He advocated to have African-American teachers. He was a Republican.
Before the American Civil War, he and his brother Francis Jefferson Roberson established a barber shop at the
Barnum's St. Louis Hotel. He married Lucy Jefferson, a relative of
Thomas Jefferson. He established a branch of the Prince Hall masons (
Prince Hall Freemasonry), named for
Prince Hall
Prince Hall (1807) was an American abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston. He founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and lobbied for education rights for African American children. He was also active in the back-to-Africa moveme ...
.
His establishment at 410 Market Street was luxurious. Léon A. Clamorgan worked for him. William Taggert also worked for him.
In 1867
Frederick Douglass stayed with him, after being refused hotel accommodations in St. Louis, when Douglass was in the city for his speech at the
St. Louis Turn Halle. Roberson helped support James A. Johnson's St. Louis Blue Stockings baseball team.
A St. Louis periodical published an image of his brother cutting hair. Francis Jefferson Roberson's son
Francis Rassieur Roberson (1898-1979) became an architect.
His son Frank Roberson studied at Oberlin and the
University of Karlsruhe
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association.
KIT was created in 2009 w ...
. He became an art teacher.
See also
*
Mill Creek Valley
References
External links
Findagrave entry
American civil rights activists
Barbers
1830s births
1878 deaths
{{US-activist-stub