tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68260322011-04-21T14:45:50.428-05:00Black is BeautifulABOUT THE ROBERTS-MATTISON FAMILY OF MANSFIELD, OHIOErniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.comBlogger51100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826032.post-1145741888450444292006-04-22T16:19:00.000-05:002006-04-25T14:21:46.923-05:00Three WivesWe might as well get one thing out of the way before we delve too far into Ernie’s story. I’ve been married three times—divorced twice. That’s the kind of thing that most people keep to themselves, including me. Moreover, my third wife is white—I’m married interracially. (That’s the kind of thing that you can’t hide.)I’ve never understood how this happened. I certainly didn’t plan for it. It justErniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826032.post-1144081532403190222006-04-03T11:25:00.000-05:002006-04-24T15:01:16.756-05:00LiberationWe were delivering me to a rooming house in Cleveland, Ohio. Me, Mom, Dad and my younger brother, Harry. I was about to be liberated. Mom, Dad and Harry were to return to our home in Mansfield. I was to start to college.Now this was 1948. There were no dormitory facilities for black men in Ohio colleges then. Somehow, in the registration process, the college administration had located a room for Erniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826032.post-1143478089459792972006-03-27T11:48:00.000-05:002006-03-27T12:03:24.863-05:00A Poverty of the MindAs a retiree, I visit the public library when the working people are at work. The checkout lines are filled young white mothers, apparently middle class, with pre-school age children. The kids are loaded down with items designed for enriching their lives—even books designed for the pre-literate. In due course, they’ll be graduating from Harvard.When my mother was a child in Honea Path, South Erniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826032.post-1141602994474236902006-03-05T18:56:00.000-05:002006-04-22T16:42:41.073-05:00SourcesFirst under the European colonial powers, then under the independent American government, slaves were traditionally not accorded ordinary human rights and privileges. Individual slave names were not recorded in routine legal documents, even in the leases and bills of sale of the slaves themselves. Those historical practices complicate African American genealogical studies.My brother, Harry, and IErniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6826032.post-1141333087669476542006-03-02T15:42:00.000-05:002007-01-27T18:21:33.392-05:00Welcome to the Roberts-Mattison StoryRe: Black is beautifulWelcome to the Black Is Beautiful blog.This is one of 6 web presences registered to Ernie Roberts. They are all linked together. Together they tell the story of the Roberts-Mattison family of Mansfield, Ohio. This one is devoted to the entire family. There is another devoted to Ernie's personal story: http://ErnestRobertsJr.spaces.live.comAs you can deduce from the title andErniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15961120762901573692noreply@blogger.com