The Chappelle family started off in the Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia areas, where my ancestors were enslaved initially. My great-great grandpa, William Chappelle I (1845-1936), was the third son of a free Black woman named Charity Smyly and a white enslaver named Henry Chappelle. A free man, William was a farmer who owned his own land.

Time to Leave

Around 1920, my Grandpapa William Chappelle II was living on the family land. The family lore states that because Grandpapa was light-skinned, he would “pass” as white to do business with white men. When it was discovered that he was “passing,” a group of white men came to Grandpapa’s home and broke in looking for him. The family was gone, but they found his brother John Henry asleep in the parlor. John Henry was taken outside where they roughed him up and attempted to hang him. Luckily, he was taken down, but he was told to warn his family.

After that it was decided that the family would pack up and leave South Carolina. While many of the Chappelle family moved to Philadelphia, D.C. and New York, our branch ended up in Chicago. They were part of the “Great Migration” of Black Americans seeking jobs, education, and an escape from the Jim Crow South.