An African American man from Hamburg, South Carolina who founded a trucking company after World War II and helped to construct two Levittowns (in New York and Pennsylvania) with the help of his nephew Vince. With Robert’s solid middle-class income, he wanted to move to a suburb, but was unable to find one that accepted African Americans. His story illustrates how de jure segregation prevented African Americans from achieving homeownership, the most important element of a middle-class life in the 20th century.