Roberta Dodd Crawford

Roberta Dodd was the African American princess Kojo Tova-Houneeou who sang the beautiful song "Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child." Roberta was born in Bonham, Texas. Her mother was Mrs. Emma Dodd. As Roberta grew up she was a popular singer at churches and schools. Roberta started her musical career at Wiley University in Marshall, Texas. Roberta went to Wiley University for two years. Then she went to Fish University in Marshall. For six years she was a student of Madam Herman Devires in Chicago, Illinois where she made her debut in 1926. In the Chicago daily News they wrote, "Her high notes are perfectly controlled, and her pianissimo is of exquisite quality" (according to notes given to our school by Mr. Tom Scott). She went to France in 1928. In May of 1931 she sang at the Sall Gaveau where she sang in French, German, Italian, Spanish and English. One year later she married the prince of French South Africa. After her husband's death in 1940 she was unable to leave Germany because of World War II. She gave concerts for the Red Cross for the American soldiers. She returned to Bonham in 1948 and was reunited with her mother whom she had not seen in sixteen years. Roberta died in 1954 in Dallas, Texas and was buried in Bonham, Texas.



by Jaclynn Cureton, 4th Grade

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