He hired two salesmen to work his lot, offered auto insurance and payment terms to customers, and later founded Roberts Motors, the first African-American owned car dealership in the United States.

[1] Roberts understood the power of advertising, targeting ads in The Kansas City Sun, the prominent local African-American newspaper.

This also helped Roberts to land a Ford franchise that grew to feature an auto repair shop, a parts store, and a 60-car showroom.

was attended by over 3000 people and later that year the Roberts Company was selling brand new Oldsmobiles, an auto made in Detroit by General Motors.

[5] In 1928, Roberts and the other businessman, Kenneth Campbell Jr., moved to Chicago and in 1929 opened a second Hupmobile dealership, located at the Hotel Grand on South Parkway.