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Gloria Roberts

Roberts Gloria diamond earrings.jpg
Gloria Roberts
Roberts Gloria as baby.jpg
Gloria Roberts at seven months
Roberts-Gloria-with-piano.jpg
Gloria Roberts
Roberts-Ellen-Wayles-with-baby-Patricia,-Pearl-and-Gloria-Roberts.jpg
From left to right: Patricia Roberts, Ellen Hemings Roberts, Pearl Roberts and Gloria Roberts
Roberts Gloria diamond earrings.jpg
Roberts Gloria as baby.jpg
Roberts-Gloria-with-piano.jpg
Roberts-Ellen-Wayles-with-baby-Patricia,-Pearl-and-Gloria-Roberts.jpg

Dates: 1924–2011

Family: Hemings, Madison

Residence (at time of interview): Munich, Germany

Gloria Roberts, daughter of Pearl Hinds and Frederick Madison Roberts, graduated from the University of Southern California and studied at the Juilliard School of Music. She lived most of her life in Europe, where she pursued a career as a concert pianist and accompanist, specializing in African American spirituals and the music of George Gershwin as well as European classical composers.  She lived as a child in the household of her grandmother Ellen Hemings Roberts and remembers her well.

Interview Information

12 Jan. 1999, Munich, Germany (by telephone)
Interviewee: Gloria Roberts

Excerpts

(audio)
"Caught in their times"

Gloria Roberts ponders the situation of her ancestors Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

Theme: Opinion of Sally Hemings

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(audio)
"They didn't talk about race"

Gloria Roberts recalls her family's attitude to race and skin color.

Theme: Racial Identity

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(audio)
"There was a closeness there"

Gloria Roberts talks about her father's relationship with his mother, Ellen Hemings Roberts.

Theme: Family

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(audio)
"The wonderful thing about Grandmama"

Gloria Roberts remembers Ellen Hemings Roberts, who was "my playmate, my best friend, my everything."

Theme: Family

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(audio)
"I didn't come planning to stay"

Gloria Roberts recalls how one trip on an ocean liner led to an entire life and musical career in Europe.

Theme: Arts, Music, and Culture

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(audio)
Gloria Roberts plays the piano

Gloria Roberts plays "I Could Have Danced All Night"
From the album "I Been In De Storm So Long".  

Theme: Arts, Music, and Culture

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(audio)
Gloria Roberts as an accompanist

Gloria Roberts accompanies baritone Charles Fulton in Aaron Copland's "Ching-a-ring Chaw."
From the album "Charles Fulton, sings".

Theme: Arts, Music, and Culture

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Ancestry

  • Elizabeth Hemings 1735 – 1807
    John Wayles
    1715 – 1773
  •  
  • Sally Hemings 1773–1835
  •  
  • Madison Hemings 1805–1877
  •  
  • Ellen Hemings Roberts 1856–1940
  •  
  • Gloria Roberts 1924–2011

Related People

  • Frederick Madison Roberts father
  • Pearl Hinds Roberts mother
  • Ellen Hemings Roberts grandmother
  • Patricia Roberts sister
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