Biographical Information on Roberta Church

Biographical Information on Roberta Church

Politics

This document gives a brief biographical history of Roberta Church. Church was the first black woman that was elected to the Republican State Executive Committee of Tennessee representing Memphis in the Ninth Congressional District. Church ran for office after the passing of her father Robert R. Church Jr., who was a nationally known Republican leader of Memphis. Church ran for her father’s seat on the Eisenhower ticket and then gained recognition for her achievement. Church’s full name was Sara Roberta Church, she was born in Memphis and later died in the city at the age of 81. It is believed that her Grandfather was the first black millionaire in the south. Church was a surviving member of a prominent black family in business and republican politics. Roberta was an official in both the Eisenhower and Nixon Administrations. During her time in the Eisenhower Administration she worked to promote equal employment opportunities as a consultant for the Labor Department. Her retirement came in the year of 1982 after working in various Federal programs such as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Department of Health and Human Services, and for Nixon she was a member of the Advisory Council on Adult Education. Church attended and graduated from LeMoyne High School in Memphis and gained both a B.A and M.A from Northwestern. Roberta was also involved in writing biographies of her grandfather and father, “The Robert R. Churched of Memphis: A Father and Son Who Achieved in Spite of Race”, “Nineteenth Century Memphis Families of Color, 1850-1900”, and contributed interviews with her aunt for “Robert Church Family of Memphis: Interviews with Roberta Church and Annette E. Church” by Charles W. Crawford.

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Hist4851, Spring 2015