Bridges Digital Archive: Audio and Video Recordings

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Document Type

Oral History

Publication Date

7-31-2014

Abstract

Ratibu Jacocks interviews Willie Roberts, a man with a history in the Inland Empire. The interview starts with formal introductions to Roberts’ talking to future generations. That is the advice to continue to go to school and get an education. The topic switched to the place and date of Roberts’ birth, Mesa, Arizona in 1924. The interviewee then speaks about his parents, who were originally from Oklahoma, and the family’s move from Arizona to Brawley, California in search of better opportunities. There was also another reason for the move when Roberts played as a child with the daughter of a Caucasian man. Due to the daughter’s father wanting to spank Roberts as punishment and Roberts’ own father not wanting to fight, it became a reason to leave Arizona. Roberts then speaks of moving from Brawley to Calipatria and going into the Civilian Conservation Corps in Brawley after graduating high school. Afterward, during the time he lived in Riverside with his mother, Roberts was drafted into a segregated unit in World War II. There is then a cut in the footage, where the topic switches to Roberts’ contributions to helping minority populations get job positions. He also worked in the Chamber of Commerce in San Bernardino and other federal jobs. The footage is then about the documents that Roberts has in a file. The documents hold medical, military, political, and other historical information that serves the purpose of displaying the contributions and history that Roberts had made. Further questions involved Roberts and his time in community-based organizations, including the West Wide Action Group, the Prince Masonic Lodge, and the American Legion Post 710.

After, the discussion turns to Roberts’ implementation of the Scholarship Fund at San

Bernardino Valley College and his membership in The Boys Club, NAACP, and other

groups. The interview ends with a discussion on Jack Hill and the other people that

Roberts had known, including some discussion from Laura Roberts.

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