William David Chappelle III (December 16, 1938 – July 29, 1998) was an American professor of music and a civil rights organizer in Ohio. He spent much of his career at

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

, where he served as Dean of Students.

Life and career

Chappelle was born on December 16, 1938 in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

. He attended Brown University, and then graduated from

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in music. Chappelle served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

for four years, and played clarinet in the service. After moving to

Yellow Springs, Ohio Yellow Springs is a village in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,697 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is home to Antioch College. History The area of the village had long b ...

, in 1967, he became a faculty member in the Co-op Department. He then became a professor in the music department, where he mainly taught vocal performance. Chappelle served terms both as Dean of Students and as Dean of Community Services. Chappelle was also active as an organizer in the civil rights movement in Ohio. In the 1970s he was a member of the Yellow Springs Human Relations Commission. He was also the co-founder of the advocacy organization H.U.M.A.N., for Help Us Make A Nation, and he was a founder of the African American Cross-Cultural Works. Chappelle taught a class on anti-racist activism at Antioch College. As part of his activism, Chappelle organized the Blues Week in Yellow Springs Ohio. He also worked for several years on community programs in Washington, D.C., and he worked as a statistician. In 2010, Chappelle received the Walter F. Anderson Award from the Antioch College Alumni Association, alongside Edythe Scott Bagley and Jim Dunn. The Anderson Award "recognizes contributions by alumni and friends who have advanced Antioch College's ideals by breaking down racial and ethnic barriers". Chappelle died in July 1998 in Yellow Springs. William David Chappelle III's grandfather was the educator and bishop

William D. Chappelle 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 colleges and universities, ...

, and his son is the comedian Dave Chappelle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappelle, William David, III 1938 births 1998 deaths African-American academics Antioch College alumni Antioch College faculty Brown University alumni 20th-century African-American people