Nicholas Franklin Roberts

Nicholas Franklin Roberts (October 13, 1849 - June 25, 1934) was a leading Baptist minister and educator in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was a faculty member and for a short time acting president at Shaw University. He also was a city alderman in Raleigh and served on the county board of education.

Nicholas Franklin Roberts
Roberts from a 1902 publication[1]
Born(1849-10-13)October 13, 1849
Seaboard, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedJune 25, 1934(1934-06-25) (aged 84)
Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma materShaw University
Occupationteacher, mathematician, minister, journalist
Political partyRepublican
Personal
ReligionBaptist

Early life and education

Nicholas Franklin Roberts was born in Seaboard, Northhampton County, North Carolina on October 13, 1849. As a child, he worked on a farm. He showed aptitude for mathematics at a young age and entered Shaw University (then Shaw Collegiate Institute) on October 10, 1871. He graduated in May, 1878 and was then hired as professor of Mathematics at Shaw.[2]

Roberts was active in Republican politics, even as a student, serving as secretary of a Republican county meeting in July 1872.[3] Along with Shaw University president, Henry Martin Tupper, and fellow student, Edward Hart Lipscomb, Roberts was an editor of the quarterly journal, African Expositor, founded in 1878[4] and was later the business manager of the Baptist Sentinel.[1]

Baptist church service

In March 1872 he converted to the Baptist religion and on May 20, 1877 was ordained a minister. On July 2, 1882, he was made pastor of Blount Street Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. From 1873 to 1883 he was president of the State Sunday School convention[2] a position he served in many times.[5] He also was elected president of the State Baptist Convention numerous times,[5] first in October 1885.[2] He was made general missionary among North Carolina poor by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1881.[6] He resigned as pastor of the Blount Street Baptist Church in August 1891 to focus on his other activities.[5]

Public service

Roberts was heavily involved in political, educational, and religious organizations and served as an officer of many bodies. He was vice president of the state Colored Education Convention in 1877.[7] In 1886, he was an alderman in Raleigh and a member of the street committee.[8] He was elected to the county school board in 1897.[9] He also led the Institute for Colored Teachers in the early 1900s.[10]

In late 1897 and early 1898, Roberts hosted South African tribal nobility, grandson of Chief Kama (also called King Kama) of Kaffraria and nephew of Chief William Shaw Kama, Alfred Impey, as Alfred attended Shaw University.[11] However, Impey died of consumption in North Carolina in April 1898.[12]

Shaw served as acting head of Shaw University for five months after Tupper died on November 12, 1893, serving from that date until March 14, 1894.[13] He later held positions of vice-president[14] dean of faculty,[15] and dean of the theology department.[16]

Personal life and death

He married Mary S. Chavis of Union, North Carolina in 1904.[17] He died June 25, 1934.[16]

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References
  1. Pipkin, James Jefferson. The Story of a Rising Race: The Negro in Revelation, in History and in Citizenship. With introduction by John B. Gordon. ND Thompson, 1902. p392-393
  2. Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p205-207
  3. Republican Meeting in Northampton County, Tri-Weekly Era (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 2, 1872, page 1, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6565856//
  4. A New Quarterly, The Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), September 14, 1878, page 3, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6565929/a_new_quarterly_the_observer_raleigh/
  5. Pegues, Albert Witherspoon. Our Baptist Ministers and Schools. Willey & Company, 1892.
  6. [No Headline], The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, North Carolina), May 11, 1881, page 2, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6566609/no_headline_the_biblical_recorder/
  7. Colored Education Convention, The Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) September 2, 1877, page 3, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6565903/colored_education_convention_the/
  8. Board of Alderman, News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), November 6, 1886, page 4, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6566630/board_of_alderman_news_and_observer/
  9. The New School Board, The Press-Visitor (Raleigh, North Carolina) June 9, 2897, page 1, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6566685/the_new_school_board_the_pressvisitor/
  10. The Colored Teachers, The North Carolinian (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 28, 1902, page 8, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6567128/the_colored_teachers_the_north/
  11. An African Prince Here, The Morning Post (Raleigh, North Carolina) December 7, 1897, page 4, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6566763/an_african_prince_here_the_morning/
  12. Prince Impey Dead, The Press-Visitor (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 5, 1898, page 1, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6566814/prince_impey_dead_the_pressvisitor/
  13. Chang, Derek. Citizens of a Christian nation: Evangelical missions and the problem of race in the nineteenth century. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. p147
  14. Colored Baptist Convention, The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, North Carolina) November 27, 1901, page 7, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6567098//
  15. Colored Baptists Meet, The Raleigh Times (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 4, 1909, page 8, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6567187/colored_baptists_meet_the_raleigh/
  16. Dr. Roberts, Negro Educator of Shaw University, Dies, Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, North Carolina), Tuesday, June 26, 1934, Page: 8
  17. Postscripts, The Morning Post (Raleigh, North Carolina), June 8, 1904, page 8, accessed September 9, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6567169/postscripts_the_morning_post_raleigh/
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