BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
ROBERTS (1814-1881)
Printer
Born in Boston, Benjamin Roberts was the son of Robert
Roberts, author of the first book on household management,
and Sarah Easton Roberts, daughter of Revolutionary
War veteran and entrepreneur James Easton. In 1838,
Benjamin Roberts opened a printing office in Boston
intending to train and employ young African Americans
as his maternal grandfather had trained his apprentices
in ironworking. He moved his printing operation briefly
to neighboring Lynn where he printed the first city
directory in 1841. Back in Boston by 1843, he reopened
a printing establishment on Washington Street which
specialized in printing pamphlets, books, and Masonic
tracts. In 1844, he printed Robert Benjamin Lewis'
history, Light and Truth: Containing the Universal
History of the Colored and Indian Race, from
the Creation of the World to the Present Time. In
the 1853 Roberts moved his printing office to 19 Washington
Street, advertising his willingness to execute “all
orders he may be favored with, in the best possible
manner, and at short notice” for cards, posters,
circulars, handbills, pamphlets, and show bills and
asserting that “This is the only Printing Establishment
in the country that is conducted by Colored Persons.”
The Vigilance Committee in 1851 paid Roberts $6.50
for printing and posting 1000 placards cautioning
black Bostonians against slave catchers.
Benjamin Roberts was not only a printer but also
a publisher. In 1838, he launched The Anti-Slavery
Herald which he described as “the first
effort of the colored men in this country of this
kind,...published, printed, and edited by colored
persons in Massachusetts.” Unable to compete
with The Liberator, his newspaper failed
after five months. In 1850, he published Report
of the Colored People of the City of Boston, on the
Subject of Exclusive Schools. Roberts'
Report was based on the landmark case for integrated
schools that he initiated on behalf of his daughter
Sarah. Robert Morris and Charles Sumner unsuccessfully
argued the case before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court. The court ruling in Roberts' case asserted
the doctrine of “separate but equal” which
was maintained until the Brown v. Board of Education
decision in 1954. In 1853 Roberts tried unsuccessfully
to launch a second anti-slavery newspaper, The
Self-Elevator. In the 1860s Roberts was a frequent
contributor to The New National Era.
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