Pressroom

• Media Contacts
• Press Releases
• ETV Management Team
• Logo Farm
• ETV Style Guidelines
• Stock Photos

South Carolina ETV

• About ETV
• History of ETV
• Testimonials
• Annual Reports
• Schedule a Tour
• Weather Center
• Contact Us

Stay Connected

ETV Presents the Carolina Stories Documentary “A True Likeness”

Pictorial Gift of Richard Samuel Roberts Airs Thursday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m.

For Immediate Release
February 19, 2008

Columbia, SC...On Thursday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m., ETV presents the new Carolina Stories documentary “A True Likeness,” the poignant story of self-taught African-American photographer Richard Samuel Roberts.

Heralded as one of the south’s most accomplished photographers of the 1920s and 1930s, Roberts’ posthumous gift of photographic art transcended the negative stereotypes of Blacks in South Carolina and brought to light a legacy that fought against the stigma of harsh Jim Crow laws and other forms of derision that seemed to dictate the destiny of people of color in South Carolina.

This 30-minute production takes viewers on a photographic journey that stunningly captured the soul of the Black middle class in Columbia.  From dainty little girls in frilly dresses and fancy hair ribbons to little boys in tweed suits with crisp white shirts to men and women dressed in their finest attire, posing as proud representatives of business and industry, Roberts’ images were poetic evidence of the evolution of economic power in the South.

The significance of Roberts’ artistic contributions is underscored throughout this program by coupling discussions about the formidable history of the New Negro Renaissance of the 1920s with photographs, archival video and interviews with Roberts’ children and grandchildren, including grandson Federal Judge Richard W. Roberts.

Set against a backdrop of period music from regional Blues musicians like pioneer Blues guitarist Memphis Minnie, singer Blind Lemon Jefferson and The Original Memphis Five, the broadcast profiles the life of an artist and the community whose history he masterfully recorded through portraiture. 

Speaking of his grandfather’s enduring legacy, Judge Roberts says he hopes that through these photographs people realize that “We’re more alike than we are different and that we have rich veins of gold to mine in areas we’ve never looked before. And I hope that when people do look at what he did and what he captured, his legacy will be of one who has now opened a window on a world that might not have seen the richness of people that live amongst us.”

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

###

For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.