[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15906]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING HERMAN ROBERTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2017

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mr. Herman 
Roberts who is to be inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame this 
Sunday, October 15, 2017.
  Born in Beggs, Oklahoma in 1924, Herman Roberts and his family moved 
to Chicago when he was 12. He entered the workforce a few years later 
working for a cab company washing cars. At the age of 15, he was given 
the responsibility of driving those cabs and by 1944, he became owner 
of his own business, the Roberts Cab Company.
  Mr. Speaker, like many young men of the era Mr. Roberts fulfilled his 
patriotic duty by serving in the army during World War II. After 
returning from war, his ambition drove him to innovation when, as he 
recalls, in 1947, he became the first to install two-way radios in his 
cabs.
  Mr. Roberts has been a longtime resident of the Southside of Chicago 
and a pioneer in Chicago's entertainment industry. He was one of the 
first club owners in Chicago to provide a non-segregated venue for 
Black entertainers and in 1960, he expanded his enterprise to include 
motels.
  His success as a club owner is evidenced by the headliners he booked: 
Nat ``King'' Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr., Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, R&B 
acts like the Treniers, Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson, and 
jazz diva Dinah Washington. While Mr. Roberts focused primarily on 
black acts, he would make exceptions for people like Tony Bennett and 
Gene Krupa.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Roberts' pioneering spirit wasn't limited to the 
musical sphere. In fact, he was the first entertainment business owner 
to give the famed Dick Gregory a chance when he hired him as a late-
night emcee at the Herman Roberts Show Lounge in Chicago in 1958. In 
the political realm, his motel served as the original meeting place for 
another pioneer when he hosted Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's 
initial campaign.
  In short, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Roberts' venues served as the epicenter 
for Chicago's Black civil society and he served as the Godfather of 
Chicago's Black entertainment industry.
  Finally, after decades of hard work, Mr. Roberts retired in 1992 and 
still, today, maintains his home on Chicago's Southside.
  Mr. Speaker, clearly Mr. Roberts is an accomplished individual and 
we, in Chicago, are proud to call him one of our own. I am delighted to 
congratulate my longtime friend and supporter, Mr. Herman Roberts, on 
this important achievement. On behalf of all my constituents in the 1st 
Congressional District of Illinois, I extend my heartfelt 
congratulations.

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