Oral Roberts

==Early life==
Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, in [[Pontotoc County, Oklahoma]], the fifth and youngest child of the Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts (1881–1967) and Claudius Priscilla Roberts (née Irwin) (1885–1974).<ref>{{cite news |title=Oral Roberts's Mother Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/04/19/archives/oral-robertss-mother-dies.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 19, 1974 |access-date=December 15, 2009}}</ref> In an interview on ''[[Larry King Live]]'', Roberts claimed his mother was of [[Cherokee descent]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Interview With Lennox Lewis; Interview With Oral Roberts (transcript) |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/31/lkl.00.html |work=[[Larry King Live]] |date=January 31, 2002 |access-date=December 18, 2009}}</ref> Roberts also claimed [[Choctaw]] heritage. However, census records indicate that Roberts and his family are listed as "white", including his mother despite her claims to be "one-quarter Cherokee."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=spiritus |title=The Spirit of Immense Struggle |publisher=[[Oral Roberts University]] |accessdate=2023-01-24}}</ref> Roberts began life in poverty, and nearly died of tuberculosis when he was 17.<ref name="TulsaToday">{{cite news |last=Arnett |first=David |title=Oral Roberts Dies |url=http://www.tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1429:oral-roberts-dies&catid=58:local&Itemid=106 |work=Tulsa Today |date=December 15, 2009 |access-date=December 21, 2009}}</ref> After finishing high school, Roberts studied for two years each at [[Oklahoma Baptist University]] and [[Phillips University]]. In 1938, he married a preacher's daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock.

Roberts became a traveling [[faith healer]] after ending his college studies without a degree. According to a ''[[TIME Magazine]]'' profile of 1972, Roberts originally made a name for himself with a large mobile tent "that sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs".<ref name="Time1972">{{cite magazine |title=Religion: Oral's Progress |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905738-1,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=February 7, 1972 |access-date=January 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813171429/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905738-1,00.html |archive-date=August 13, 2007}}</ref>