Patrick Henry Chappelle (January 7, 1869 – October 21, 1911),
[Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff]
''Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz''
University Press of Mississippi, 2009, pp. 248-268.[''The New York Age'']
November 16, 1911, p. 2. Retrieved July 5, 2014. was an American theatre owner and entrepreneur, who established and ran
The Rabbit's Foot Company
The Rabbit's Foot Company, also known as the Rabbit('s) Foot Minstrels and colloquially as "The Foots", was a long-running minstrel and variety troupe that toured as a tent show in the American South between 1900 and the late 1950s. It was establi ...
, a leading traveling
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
show in the first part of the twentieth century. He became known as one of the biggest employers of African Americans in the entertainment industry, with multiple tent traveling shows and partnerships in strings of theaters and saloons. Chappelle was described at that time as the "Pioneer of Negro Vaudeville" and "the black
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...
," and was the only African American to fully operate a traveling show solely composed of African-American entertainers.
["Pioneer of Negro Vaudeville. The Meteoric Career of Mr. Pat Chappelle, the Magnate of Afro American Stage--From Strolling Player to Manager--Colored Performers Should Organize for Protection." News/Opinion, ''The Colored American'', p. 1. August 3, 1901. Washington (DC), District of Columbia.]
Early life
Chappelle was born in
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...
, the son of Lewis Chappelle and his wife Anna, who had been slaves in
Newberry County, South Carolina
Newberry County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 37,719. Its county seat is Newberry. The name is of unknown origin.
Newberry County comprises the Newberry, SC Micropolitan Sta ...
. After
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
was abolished, they left South Carolina with their relatives and other freed slaves to help construct the suburban neighborhood of
LaVilla
LaVilla is a historic African American neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida and a was formerly an independent city. It developed after the American Civil War and was eventually annexed to the city of Jacksonville in 1887 and is now considered pa ...
in Jacksonville, which became a center of African-American culture in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Lewis Chappelle and his brother
Mitchell Chappelle
Mitchell may refer to:
People
*Mitchell (surname)
*Mitchell (given name)
Places Australia
* Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate
* Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst
* Mitchell, Northern Territory ...
worked on house construction and also held several political positions in LaVilla.
[''Florida Black Public Officials (Black Officials La Villa), 1867-1924'', University of Alabama Press (1998).] Their other brother
Julius Caesar Chappelle
Julius Caesar Chappelle ( – January 27, 1904) was an American Republican Party politician who was born into slavery in South Carolina and served in the Massachusetts General Court. He was a leading figure of Boston's black community from 1870 u ...
, Pat's uncle, also worked in construction in LaVilla and then moved to
Boston, Massachusetts, where he became a legislator between 1883 and 1886, one of the early black
Republicans in Boston (the Republican Party was founded by
abolitionists
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The Britis ...
).
Pat Chappelle was musically gifted. He and his brothers and cousin learned musical skills from some of their relatives – Pat learned how to play the
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
and piano, but was best known for his proficiency in
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
. He left school after the
fourth grade
Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
and played guitar in traveling
string band
A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass. While being active countr ...
s.
[ He started playing in hotels on the East Coast and was discovered by a prestigious vaudeville circuit owner, ]Benjamin Franklin Keith
Benjamin Franklin Keith (January 26, 1846 – March 26, 1914) was an American vaudeville theater owner, highly influential in the evolution of variety theater into vaudeville.
Biography
Early years
Keith was born in Hillsboro Bridge, New ...
, who offered him bookings with the museum circuit in Boston and New York City. Later, he performed in Florida restaurants and saloons.[Peter Dunbaugh Smith]
''Ashley Street Blues: Racial Uplift and the Commodification of Vernacular Performance in LaVilla Florida, 1896-1916''
, Florida State University, The College of Arts and Science, Dissertation, 2006.
Vaudeville traveling shows, theaters, and saloon businesses
In 1898, Chappelle returned to Jacksonville and organised his first traveling show, the Imperial Colored Minstrels (or Famous Imperial Minstrels),[Henry T. Sampson]
''Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows'', Scarecrow Press, 1980 (2013 edn)
pp. 48-49. which featured comedian Arthur "Happy" Howe and toured successfully around the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
.[Bernard L. Peterson]
''The African American Theatre Directory, 1816-1960: A Comprehensive Guide to Early Black Theatre Organizations, Companies, Theatres, and Performing Groups''
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997, p. 104.[ Early shows also featured ]ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
pianist Prof. Fred Sulis, and white country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
r Blind Joe Mangrum (who went on to record for Victor Records
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...
as late as 1928).[ Chappelle also opened a ]pool hall
A billiard, pool or snooker hall (or parlour, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve ...
in the commercial district of Jacksonville. Remodeled as the Excelsior Hall, it became the first black-owned theater in the South, reportedly seated 500 people, and also sold whiskey.[ In an August 20, 1898 article in ''The New York Times'', it was stated that Chappelle, who was standing outside the saloon in Jacksonville, was "almost beaten to death"]["Knockout Drops for Troops: Over 18 Men Picked Up Insensible in Jacksonville—A Saloon Keeper Roughly Handled". ''New York Times'', p. 1. August 20, 1898.] by an angry mob who blamed him as the proprietor for a dosing of soldiers inside the saloon with "knockout drops" by unknowns that caused some of the men to appear "completely insensible, seemingly lifeless" and left other "almost screaming with pain and writhing in convulsions." Pat Chappelle's life was saved by "Major Harrison, Provost Marshall, in ordering out a reserve guard." The article also reported that Chappelle "was terribly beaten and kicked."
In 1899, following a dispute with the white landlord of the Excelsior Hall, J. E. T. Bowden, who was also the Mayor of Jacksonville
The Mayor of Jacksonville is the chief executive for the city of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Jacksonville currently utilizes the strong mayor form of government, in which the mayor has significant powers compared to the Jacksonville C ...
, Chappelle closed the theatre and stripped out its tiled floor and fixtures. He moved to Tampa, where he – with fellow African-American entrepreneur R. S. Donaldson – opened a new vaudeville house, the Buckingham, in the Fort Brooke
Fort Brooke was a historical military post established at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida in 1824. Its original purpose was to serve as a check on and trading post for the native Seminoles who had been confined ...
neighborhood, using the Excelsior's fittings. The ''Tampa Morning Tribune'' reported that " e mayor of Jacksonville is therefore after Chappell '' ic', and there may develop an interesting local end to the story."[ Chappelle claimed that he owned the fittings, but eventually they were returned to Jacksonville and the charges against him were dropped. The Buckingham Theatre's Saloon opened in September 1899, and within a few months was reported to be "crowded to the doors every night with Cubans, Spaniards, Negroes and white people".][ In December 1899 Chappelle and Donaldson opened a second theatre, the Mascotte, closer to the center of Tampa.][
In 1901, the Buckingham Theatre Saloon was advertised as offering fine imported wine, liquors, beer, and cigars, and when the theater was renovated, it had its grand opening on December 23, 1901, that made the next day's front page of the ''Morning Tribune'' in Tampa. The Theatre Saloon bought its fine Cuban cigars from a factory owned by ]Vicente Martinez Ybor
Vicente Martinez Ybor (7 September 1818 – 14 December 1896), was a Spanish entrepreneur who first became a noted industrialist and cigar manufacturer in Cuba, then Key West, and finally Tampa, Florida.
Martinez Ybor is best known for his found ...
in Ybor City
Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...
.[ In 1903, while Pat was traveling with his Rabbit's Foot Company, he left his brother Louis in charge of the Buckingham Theatre Saloon. Louis was arrested and convicted of selling liquor without a license, and the Buckingham Theatre Saloon was closed. Pat Chappelle left his vaudeville company and rushed to Tampa to hire a lawyer who was able to gain pardon and release for Louis. Chappelle was fined, although the circumstances of the charge against him were deemed suspicious and the publicity did not seem to tarnish their reputations. In 1904, the Buckingham Theatre Saloon changed its name and reopened as the Red Fox Music Hall with a pool hall and fancy café with the additional marketing help of a cousin, Mitchell Chappelle, who also helped secure liquor licenses and license renewals to be in compliance with regulations.][
]
The Rabbit's Foot Company, Funny Folks Company and Chappelle Bros.
The success of their shows at the Buckingham and Mascotte theatres in Tampa led Chappelle and Donaldson to announce their intention, in early 1900, to establish a traveling vaudeville show. Chappelle commissioned Frank Dumont
Frank Dumont (January 25, 1848 – March 17, 1919) was an American minstrel show performer and manager.Rice, Edward Le RoyMonarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date p. 198 (1911) of the Eleventh Street Theater in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
to write a show for the new company. In May 1900, Chappelle and Donaldson advertised for "60 Colored Performers.... Only those with reputation, male, female and juvenile of every description, Novelty Acts, Headliners, etc., for our new play 'A Rabbit's Foot'.... We will travel in our own train of hotel cars, and will exhibit under canvas...". In summer 1900, Chappelle decided to put the show into theatres rather than under tents, first in Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...]
. However, his bandmaster Frank Clermont left, his partnership with Donaldson dissolved, and business was poor.[ Chappelle later won a lawsuit against a rival company, Holland's Georgia Minstrels, for taking away Clermont.][
In October 1901, the company launched its second season, with a roster of performers again led by Arthur "Happy" Howe, and toured in ]Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
, Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
and Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The show grew in popularity throughout the early years of the century, and played in both theatres and tents.[ Trading as Chappelle Bros.,][Bernard L. Peterson]
''Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960''
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, p. 51. Pat Chappelle and his brothers, James E. Chappelle and Lewis W. Chappelle, rapidly organized a small vaudeville circuit, including theatre venues in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, as well as Jacksonville and Tampa. According to the later legal case between Pat Chappelle's widow and his brothers, James and Lewis claimed that the three brothers had established a co-partnership in 1900 to run both the traveling and theatre parts of the business; however, this was countered by the claim that the troupes taken out by Pat Chappelle were managed and conducted by him alone, and the court supported the latter view.[ Nevertheless, by 1902 it was said that the Chappelle Bros. circuit had full control of the African-American vaudeville business in that part of the country, "able to give from 12 to 14 weeks f employmentto at least 75 performers and musicians" each season.][
In Florida, theaters and opera houses that did not previously have segregation started to implement ]Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
, after Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
appeared on stage at a Florida theater before a crowd of different races sitting together. In order to increase attendance, and avoid some social problems of segregation by easily designating seating, Chappelle started using tents to perform in instead of local opera houses; this helped him increase his earnings to $1,000 a week that year. He stored his equipment in the winter at the Chappelle family property in LaVilla, Florida.[ In the periodical ''Crisis: A record of the darker Races'' a piece on "Along the Color Line Jim Crow" reported that Chappelle won a discrimination suit against the ]Louisville and Nashville Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.
Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...
s. The Interstate Commerce Commission decided that, as the periodical put it, "Negro minstrels traveling in private cars are entitled to the same treatment as white occupants of such cars."
Chappelle was able to state, late in 1902, that he had "accomplished what no other Negro has done - he has successfully run a Negro show without the help of a single white man."[ As his business grew, he was able to own and manage multiple tent shows, and the Rabbit's Foot Company would travel to as many as sixteen states in a season. Chappelle was known for creating exciting shows, often coordinated with parades, or parades were organized around his show's appearances. This helped draw large crowds, even during a ]yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
scare. The company's parade was described by ''The Freeman'' as "one of the finest street parades in the country for minstrels."[ Diverse crowds of several thousand people were seen in attendance, and some of his spacing seated 25,000 people. He also included drama and classic opera in his shows, such as works by ]Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
, chorus show girls, and a musical band that included ten brass players, later doubled in size. By doing this, he offered his talented team of performers the opportunity to star in different venues. The black entertainers were known to be of high quality, and Chappelle advertised in African-American newspapers to find and employ them, and develop their careers. The vaudeville was very popular and in high demand as it was known as "authentic" (not white blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
) and "clean negro" vaudeville, one of the few "authentic negro" vaudeville shows around. It traveled most successfully in the southeast and southwest, and also to Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
.
Chappelle also established an all-black baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team, based in Jacksonville, but which toured with the company and played the local team in each city the company visited.[ The team claimed "the championship of the South and South-west", and operated at least until 1916.][
By 1904 the Rabbit's Foot show featured more than 60 quality performers, had expanded to fill three Pullman railroad carriages, and was describing itself as "the leading Negro show in America". Pat's father Lewis Chappelle helped out as boss of the company since it had doubled in size, including the brass band that went from ten to twenty players. The show was reported to include minstrel performances, dancers, circus acts, "daring aerialists," comedy and musical ensemble pieces. For the 1904–05 season, the company included week-long stands in ]Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. Two of its most popular performers were singing comedian Charles "Cuba" Santana and trombonist Amos Gilliard, though the latter defected to Rusco and Holland's Georgia Minstrels and claimed that Pat Chappelle and his brothers had threatened him at gunpoint before throwing him off the company train.[ Another performer, William Rainey, brought his young bride Gertrude (later known as "Ma" Rainey) to join the company in 1906.][
In 1906, Chappelle launched travelling tent companies, the Funny Folks Comedy Company, managed by his cousin Mitchell P. Chappelle. The same performers, including Happy Howe and Cuba Santana, alternated between the two companies. As Pat Chappelle's business expanded, a correspondent in ''The Freeman'' in 1908 stated that "Mr. Chappelle has no equal when it comes to managing these kind of shows... he has proven to be the black ]P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...
, when it comes to the success of a Negro show."[ However, around 1907, his brothers Lewis and James quit working with Pat, after Pat expressed dissatisfaction with their work. Lewis went to work as a blacksmith and James became a horse caretaker.][
In August 1908, one of the ]Pullman Company
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...
railroad carriages used by Chappelle burned to the ground in Shelby, North Carolina
Shelby is a city in and the county seat of Cleveland County, North Carolina, United States. It lies near the western edge of the Charlotte combined statistical area. The population was 20,323 at the 2010 census.
History
The area was originally i ...
, while several of the vaudeville entertainers were asleep. The accident happened after one of their nearby horses accidentally kicked over a tank of gasoline near a cooking stove. The injured were taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
. One of the most severely injured was George Connelly, who had tried to save horses trapped in fire in a car stall; two of the horses died, but George saved one of them, and was mentioned as a hero by the media. Others who had escaped from the car unharmed still had to handle the loss of their clothes and other belongings, as well as the tragedy of the accident and those injured. Pat Chappelle was unharmed and quickly ordered a new carriage and eighty-foot round tent so the show could go on the following week. Financially, the tragedy cost him $10,000. He mentioned to ''The Freeman'' newspaper that the incident could have been prevented if there had been a fire department in the area, or at least water for a "bucket brigade."[ In 1909, Chappelle sued the ]Mobile and Ohio Railroad
The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile ...
which overcharged for the transportation of his Pullman sleeper and baggage cars. He also tried to gather support to help lower the transportation rates of the Southern Railroad Association, as the high rates targeted the tour shows.[
]
Other activities
In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Chappelle successfully communicated with the mainstream African-American newspapers
African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are newspaper, news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-Americ ...
of his day, and articles about him and his family were published in a variety of black newspapers and magazines. ''The Freeman'' newspaper published his opinion pieces, covered the "Rabbit's Foot Comedy Company" on many occasions, and mentioned some of his family members in the society pages and obituary pages. Chappelle wrote, questioning why there were not more African-American owners of companies.[
Chappelle invested much of his profits in ]real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
. In 1909 it was said that his investments in "twenty-five modern structures in the various sections, both business and residential, of the city of Jacksonville, and the $7,000 apartment building now in course of erection, as well as a large volume of business through the Afro-American bank of his native city, are encouraging signs of race progress".[
]
Retirement and death
By 1910, Chappelle was suffering from an unspecified illness and his doctor told him to rest. He went with his wife Rosa to the countryside in Georgia, and then to Atlanta. Pat returned to the tour but then left again in the winter of 1910; his brother Lewis took over some of the day-to-day operations, and his other brother James returned to work in ticketing. Despite Pat's non-attendance at his show that year, it was still a success. Pat and Rosa traveled in Europe, one aim being to see the celebrations of the coronation of King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
in England in June 1911,[ and were on the '']RMS Lusitania
RMS ''Lusitania'' (named after the Roman province in Western Europe corresponding to modern Portugal) was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and that held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlanti ...
'', according to U.S. passenger records. Pat told ''The Freeman'' newspaper that he had enough money to retire, and announced that he would not take his show out that year due to his health.[
Pat Chappelle died in October 1911 at his home in LaVilla, aged 42. At his death, he was said to be "one of the wealthiest colored citizens of Jacksonville, Fla., owning much real estate".][
]
After his death
Pat Chappelle married Rosa (née Brooks) around 1906; they had no children.[ After his death, Rosa married Simuel Decatur McGill, who had worked in law offices and studied law in Boston. Chappelle died ]intestate
Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...
, and his brothers Lewis and James claimed a share of his estate on the basis that the three had entered into a co-partnership in 1900, which remained extant, and that Pat was merely the manager of the touring part of the business while Lewis and James managed the businesses in Tampa. They also alleged that Pat Chappelle lived extravagantly. In 1916 the Supreme Court of Florida
The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...
found in favor of Rosa and Simuel McGill, so that the entirety of Pat's estate, including business interests and a $10,000 life insurance policy, was left to Rosa and not to his brothers.[''McGill v. Chappelle'']
Florida Supreme Court, April 11, 1916. Retrieved July 10, 2014 Decades later in 1940, McGill was still known as a winning lawyer when he won the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case ''Chambers v. Florida
''Chambers v. Florida'', 309 U.S. 227 (1940), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the extent to which police pressure resulting in a criminal defendant's confession violates the Due Process Clause.
Case
The case was ar ...
'' that overturned the conviction of four innocent African-American men that were sentenced to death.[
His cousin Mitchell Chappelle became an ]African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...
minister, and held positions with civic organizations dedicated to helping African-Americans.
A white carnival owner, Fred S. Wolcott, bought the business in 1912 and kept The Rabbit's Foot Company successfully on tour, but it was no longer an authentic negro vaudeville and was thought of as more of a popular minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
with some blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
entertainers that would be considered demeaning by today's standards. Wolcott kept and attracted prominent African-American entertainers such as Ma Rainey. He moved the headquarters to Port Gibson, Mississippi
Port Gibson is a city in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Port Gibson is the county seat of Claiborne County, which is bordered on the west by the Mississippi Ri ...
, and it continued to tour until the late 1950s.[ A historic marker has been placed by the Mississippi Blues Commission at Port Gibson to commemorate the contribution that the Rabbit's Foot Company made to the development of the blues in Mississippi.]
References
External links
"Rabbit's Foot Minstrels," ''Mississippi Blues Commission''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappelle, Pat
1869 births
1911 deaths
People from Jacksonville, Florida
Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida
African-American businesspeople
African-American history of Florida
African-American culture
Vaudeville producers
19th-century American businesspeople
20th-century African-American people