First published in 1827 and the standard for household management for decades afterward, The House Servant's Directory is one of the first books written by an African American and issued by a commercial press. It was written while Roberts (ca. 1780-1827) was in the employ of Christopher Gore (1758-1827), a former senator from Massachusetts (and ancestor of the novelist Gore Vidal). Gore Place, where Roberts worked from 1825 to 1827, is one of the grandest neoclassical mansions in America.