William D. Chappelle

William D. Chappelle
Born	William David Chappelle (1857-11-16)November 16, 1857 Winnsboro, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	June 15, 1925(1925-06-15) (aged 67)
Occupation(s)	Bishop, President of Allen University
Children	W. D. Chappelle Jr.
Relatives	William David Chappelle III (grandson) Dave Chappelle (great-grandson)

William David Chappelle (November 16, 1857 – June 15, 1925) was an American educationalist and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Chappelle served as president of Allen University, a historically Black university in Columbia, South Carolina, from 1897 to 1899 and served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1916 to 1925.^[1]

Early life

Chappelle was born enslaved in 1857 in Winnsboro, South Carolina, one of the eleven children of Henry and Patsy McCory Chappelle.^[2][3]

Career

The former Rosina C. Palmer, Chappelle's second wife, in 1916

On March 13, 1918, Bishop Chappelle led a delegation from the bishops' council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to meet Democratic President Woodrow Wilson at the White House. The delegation came to protest the mounting wave of anti-black violence and hysteria accompanying the Great Migration, including numerous lynchings and other mob violence. Wilson took no action.^[4]

Family and legacy

After the death of his first wife, he married Rosina C. Palmer (also recorded as Rosena C. Palmer), who had contributed an essay as a young woman to what the Library of Congress describes as "a collection of essays by African American authors designed to encourage diligence, temperance, and religion among young African Americans."^[5][6][7] His father-in-law was Robert John Palmer, one of South Carolina's black legislators during the Reconstruction era.^[8]

One of his sons, W. D. Chappelle, Jr., was a physician and surgeon who opened the People's Infirmary around 1915, a small hospital and surgery practice in Columbia, South Carolina during a time when segregation prevented many African Americans from having access to healthcare.^[9]

His great-grandson is stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle,^[10] and his grandson was William David Chappelle III.^[11] The former would make reference to his great-grandfather's White House visit in his 2020 special 8:46.

References

1. Tindall, George Brown (1952). South Carolina Negroes, 1877-1900. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781570034947.
2. Riley, Charlotte S. (2016-01-19). A Mysterious Life and Calling: From Slavery to Ministry in South Carolina. University of Wisconsin Pres. ISBN 9780299306748.
3. Murphy, Larry G.; Melton, J. Gordon; Ward, Gary L. (2013). "Chappelle, William D.". Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Routledge. ISBN 9781135513382.
4. Milton C. Sernett. Bound for the Promised Land: African-American Religion and the Great Migration at p. 47 (1997)
5. The Literary Journal (1898) 'https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t0e19/?sp=4
6. History of the American Negro and His Institutions "On April 25, 1900, he was married to Miss Rosina C. Palmer, a daughter of Robert J. and Rosina Palmer"
7. "Frank Lincoln Mather - 1915. Who's who of the Colored Race. Bishop Chappelle .. 2d marriage, Rosina C. Palmer, of Columbia, S. C, Apr. 26, 1900; 2 children. Licensed to preach in A. M. E. Church,
8. Id.
9. "CityWatch: On Columbia's Historic Black Health Care Facilities". 10 July 2019.
10. "Comedian Dave Chappelle given keys to city". thestate. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
11. "William (Bill) David Chappelle (1938-1998)". The 365 project. Retrieved 5 November 2020.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Twentieth century Negro literature or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro by David Wallace Culp (1902)
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: William David Chappelle by Mildred Hare. Federal Writers' Project (1936)