A True Likeness tells the story of Richard Samuel Roberts, a little-known African American photographer from South Carolina whose posthumous discovery transcended stereotypes and brought to light a significant legacy. Heralded as one of the south’s most accomplished photographers of the 1920's and 1930's, Roberts was a self-taught artist who was determined to become a master portrait maker, with every image a true likeness of the subject. But for more than 40 years after his death his work remained lost to all but his family and friends.
Closed captioning has been provided for this broadcast program.
Please note, we segment longer documentaries into parts for classroom usage on KnowItAll.org. If you prefer to see the full documentary, click the link below to view on scetv.org.
Video
An old photograph taken sometime between 1912 and 1914 is found, and experts were told to visit a Miss Hattie May Cornwell, in the Arsenal Hill community of Columbia, S.C. She not only identified the...
Video
The people in the photos; who were they? Identifying the subjects in the photos would prove to be difficult, since few records were kept of those who were photographed. The Roberts family became a...
Video
The Roberts family always wanted to do something with the historic photographs they had on hand. With the cooperation of both the Roberts family and the Columbia Museum of Art, the book A True...
Video
Throughout Richard Roberts’ works, the image of “The New Negro” is personified; that after years of slavery, there are now new opportunities, along with freedom, and upwards mobility. Roberts loved...
Document
Choose one of the photographs featured in the documentary, A True Likeness. Analyze the photograph using the prompts from the learning activity.
