Julius Caesar Chappelle

Julius Caesar Chappelle (1852–1904) was an African-American politician born into slavery in South Carolina. After the American Civil War, he lived for a time with his family in LaVilla, Florida, helping develop the new town. In 1870 he was one of numerous Southern black migrants to Boston, Massachusetts, which had a thriving black community and strong abolitionist history. He later joined the Republican Party that was founded by abolitionists, and Chappelle was elected to two terms in the Massachusetts state legislature, serving 1883-1886. Julius Caesar Chappelle was also the first African-American to serve on the Massachusetts State Senate Committee where he served three terms. Chappelle was active in supporting civil rights, trying to reduce discrimination, and consumer affairs. His speeches were frequently covered by newspapers. Throughout his life and political career, he held secondary supervisory government positions in maintenance, such as at the United States Post Office and US Boston Custom House. Although Julius Caesar Chappelle may have graced the same pages in newspapers as Frederick Douglass, Chappelle is not as well-known because he is not known to have left much of a literary footprint such as writing manuscripts or for pamphlets.

Julius Caesar Chappelle was born into slavery in 1852 at Chappelle’s Landing, a plantation near Edgefield, Newberry County, South Carolina, to an enslaved mother. He was classified as a "mulatto," visibly of mixed race, with African-European ancestry. Among his siblings were brothers Lewis and Mitchell. This upland area was developed for cotton cultivation in antebellum era after the invention of the cotton gin made short-staple cotton profitable. Edgefield also was known for its potteries. South Carolina has been documented as having some of the worst conditions for slaves during the time period of slavery in America, and its population was majority black from before the American Revolution into the early 20th century. During slavery, it was often common for plantation owners to break up families and move them to different plantations of the same owner in order to stop possible uprisings. There is evidence that during very early childhood Julius C. Chappelle and at least one of his brothers may have been moved from South Carolina to two other plantations in different states before being brought back to the South Carolina plantations in Newberry County, South Carolina.

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