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Ancestral Bridges

“Ancestral Bridges: Celebrating Black and Afro-Indigenous families who lived and worked in Amherst in the 18th through early 20th centuries,” an exhibit of historical photographs and artifacts, will be on view in Frost Library through the summer of 2024.

Perry Roberts Photograph


Date Unknown, Amherst College

About Perry Roberts

Perry Roberts worked at Amherst College as a janitor and caterer. He was born into slavery and emancipated as a child. He and his father, also named Perry Roberts, were enslaved on the same plantation as Fredrick Douglas in Maryland. 

In the post on The Consecrated Eminence, "Black Lives of Amherst College, Non-Alumni Edition," Perry Roberts is pictured with the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, noting that he "served as the custodian for Delta Upsilon from approximately 1882 until the early twentieth century. Delta Upsilon group photos regularly show Roberts seated front and center holding the fraternity seal."