Often when we celebrate Black History Month, we immediately turn to well-known and highly influential figures to shine the annual spotlight. They’re often trailblazers in sports, politics, the arts, or business…names with whom many Americans are familiar and who are somehow connected to the annual celebration’s theme.
With this year’s BHM theme being “Black Resistance,” as chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, certain noted Black activists, freedom fighters, and historically Black institutions will be celebrated for their roles in advocating for the advancement of people of African descent in an oppressive American society, especially those whose efforts benefited a larger swath of the Black community and, by extension, America as a whole.
This year, Caracal is highlighting a lesser-known figure in Black American history, SGM Charles A. Roberts (1933-2020), who may not have been known to the larger community but one of significant importance to our company…one that, without whom, Caracal wouldn’t exist.
**Photo of Charles A. Roberts taken 1952 at age 18. Photo courtesy of Darrell Roberts**
SGM Roberts, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1952 at age 18 and who dutifully served his country for 29 years before retiring at the highest enlisted rank of Sergeant Major in 1981, was a Vietnam War veteran whose service included the famed 101st Airborne Division in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, and the SHAPE Headquarters in Versailles, France. SHAPE is the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Allied Command Operations.
Roberts was born the ninth of ten children in Ellaville, Georgia to Willie Edward Roberts, a Nigerian immigrant and educator, and Jessie Belle Roberts Hodges, a housekeeper.
At a young age, Charles’ family relocated to Sanford, Florida, only minutes from where an unarmed 17-year-old Black boy, Trayvon Martin, was famously killed by a neighborhood watch coordinator in 2012.
When Roberts’ father died in 1935, a very young Charles, who remained in Sanford with his mother and one of his sisters, was separated from his older siblings since many of them were sent to live with other relatives or foster homes where they could have a better chance in life.
Roberts spent much of his youth in the racially divided South as a sharecropper, often spending time working the cotton farms or the celery fields. This was necessitated by the fact that his mother barely made enough as a housekeeper to feed the family or keep shoes on their feet. At one point they lived in a small three-room house with no running water, electricity, or bathroom. The water pump and “outhouse” (toilet) were both at least 50 yards from the residence, as was typical for Black homes at the time.
Because of his turbulent upbringing, Roberts quickly learned the value and importance of a good education and even attended, along with some of his siblings, the first schools for African Americans in Sanford: the Hopper Academy and later Crooms Academy (both founded by African American educator and principal Joseph N. Crooms).
But the immediate needs of his family conflicted with his schooling and, after struggling to complete the sixth grade due to months of absenteeism while working the farms, Roberts dropped out.
As he got older, Roberts continued to work the local farms, helping his mother put food on the table as some of his other siblings, who had struggled with their foster families, returned to the home.
At the age of 18, Roberts joined the U.S. Army and began an illustrious career which allowed him to travel around the world including tours in France, Germany, and brief stints in South Korea. Over time, he rose through the ranks of Specialist, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeant and, ultimately, Sergeant Major.
In May of 1968, just two months after the birth of his youngest son, Donald, and one month after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Roberts began a one-year deployment to Vietnam. There, he earned the Bronze Star for Meritorious Achievement in ground operations despite facing many adversities during the war. Among these were seeing many of his comrades injured or killed and trying to reconcile a war where his country—the same one where his own people were still fighting for their civil rights at home—was at war in a foreign land where the primary targets were other people of color… a country that he knew if he was fortunate enough to return to, he would find less than a hero’s welcome due to both the anti-Vietnam War movement and his skin color.
**Photo of Charles A. Roberts (center) and fellow soldiers in Vietnam (circa 1968). Photo courtesy of Darrell Roberts**
Fortunately, Roberts returned safely home to the U.S. in May 1969 where he continued his stellar military career, earning several more honors for his outstanding leadership, technical competence, and military bearing, including a total of two Meritorious Service medals, Good Conduct Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medals, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and two overseas service bars to go along with the Bronze Star.
Despite his inability to complete grade school during his youth, Roberts earned his G.E.D. and eventually attended Saint Leo University in Ft. Lee, Virginia.
Roberts—partially inspired by his own lack of access to a full education at a young age—instilled a love of learning and, by example, a thirst for achievement in his own children. He would accept nothing less than the best in academic scholarship from his kids, often reminding them of his own struggles given his lack of formal education.
Roberts, whose formative years coincided with many of the well-documented milestones of the Civil Rights Movement, may not have actively marched in protests or gave memorable speeches to throngs of people. But he knew that education, particularly that of young Black people in America, was in its own way a form of resistance. It was a way of dispelling the long-held belief that Black people were intellectually inferior. As Carter G. Woodson famously said, “if you teach the Negro that he has accomplished so much good as any other race, he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race.”
If his children had access to knowledge in a country where it was once unlawful for people of African descent to even learn to read and write, Roberts knew that one of his most important goals—that his children had the opportunities that were elusive to him—could be realized.
Roberts died three years ago to the date of this posting, on February 22, 2020, from multiple myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer linked to his exposure to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam War. Because of recent studies linking the levels of exposure to the toxic chemical in Vietnam Vets to the likelihood of developing myeloma, Roberts’ illness was determined to be 100% service-connected, which made him eligible for healthcare and other benefits as determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Charles Roberts’ legacy includes his wife, Joyce, and six children: three girls and three boys. The youngest of those, Donald Charles Roberts, is the founder and CEO of Caracal Products & Services.
In his memory, Caracal Academy’s sponsorship of the Charles A. Roberts academic scholarship is awarded annually to academically deserving students as nominated by the Academy and decided by Charles’ widow, Joyce Roberts.
Today we celebrate Charles A. Roberts, October 20, 1933 – February 22, 2020, Black patriarch, leader, and U.S. serviceman whose sacrifices for family and country are without a doubt why we are here today.
**Photo of Charles A. Roberts (circa 2019). Photo courtesy of Darrell J. Roberts**