William Beauregard Roberts (March 5, 1861 - October 3, 1940) was an American Democratic politician, lawyer, planter, and banker.

[2] He was then admitted to the bar, and after his father's death in 1880, Roberts taught school and practiced law in Hardin County, Kentucky.

[6] He served as the Democratic Chairman of the Bolivar County Executive Committee and participated in the "final restoration of political authority to the whites" there following the end of Reconstruction.

[6] In 1919, Roberts ran for the office of Mississippi State Senator to represent the 30th District (composed of Bolivar County) in the 1920 and 1922 sessions.

[1] During the 1920–1924 term, he was a member of the Senate's Judiciary; Fees and Salaries; Immigration; Insurance; Roads, Ferries, and Bridges; and Levee's committees.

[1] He quickly rose as a debate leader in the Senate and was known to oppose excessive government spending, but still support improvement of roads and other public works.

[1] In June 1923, Roberts withdrew his candidacy for the Senate for re-election, in spite of the fact that he faced no opposition in the primary.

[12][2] In 1924, Roberts and fellow State Senator Arthur Marshall proposed to donate buildings in Cleveland, Mississippi, formerly belonging to Bolivar County Agricultural College to establish Delta State Teachers' College; the bill was signed on April 9 by Governor Henry Whitfield.

[16][17] The Senate President, Lieutenant Governor Bidwell Adam, did not join Speaker Bailey in calling for the legislative conference.

[16] In his letter, which was also published by the Associated Press, Roberts also provided a suggestion for Treasury-restoring legislation for the session: a bill authorizing the state bond commission to sell $5 million worth of 20-year bonds, $2 million worth of short-term notes maturing on May 1, 1932, and a second bill appropriating $10,000 for the session's expenses.

[17][18] However, Governor Bilbo, who had remained in his Southern Mississippi pecan orchard, rejected the resolution due to the fact that the legislators did not individually sign the pledge.

[20] On October 16, after minor amendments by the House, Roberts' cotton limitation bill was signed by Governor Bilbo.

[28] Also on December 23, Roberts issued his first pardon in his time as acting governor, for an 84 or 87-year-old black man named Calvin Butler who had for 3 months been working on a prison farm in order to pay off a $100 liquor possession fine.

[32][33] This proposition was opposed by Senator Luther Whittington and other legislators, who accused Roberts of wanting to deprive the state treasury of its main source of income.

[35] During the 1940 session, Governor Paul Johnson introduced a bill to allow for free textbooks for public school students in grades 1–8.

[36] One amendment was created in the bill that would separately store textbooks for black students "to protect the health of white pupils".

[36] Roberts led support in favor of the discriminatory amendment, arguing that "in Mississippi the race issue is still paramount" and that "There is no question of the right of this Legislature in order to separate the negro and the white man", citing the racially discriminatory 1890 state constitution as well as the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v.

[36][37] These amendments were opposed by members of the legislature's education committee, who pointed out that the provisions for racial discrimination would "weaken the bill's constitutionality" and allow the ACLU to make a legal case against them, and that the "red-blooded Mississippians and sons of Confederate soldiers" managing textbook distribution would ultimately segregate textbook storage anyway without the specifications in the amendment.

[1] Despite his advanced age as a senator, Roberts was known for being up-to-date with modern technology, bringing the first car to Mississippi in 1902 and owning the first radio in Rosedale.