dock charles
1892-1975
Life Story
Early Life in the American South
Dock Charles—whose name appeared across records as Doc, Duck, and occasionally Dick—was born on April 27 in the early 1890s in Thomasville, Alabama. Historical records vary on his exact birth year, listing dates between 1892 and 1894, but all point to him being the son of Bob Charles and a member of a large African American family coming of age during the difficult decades following Reconstruction.
By 1900, the Charles family had relocated to Hurricane Creek in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. There, young Dock lived with his father and siblings Pearly, Naoma, Timothy, Lester, and infant Lottie in a busy rural household shaped by farm labor and the realities of Southern Black life at the turn of the century.
Like many children raised in rural communities during that era, Dock initially had little formal education. However, by 1910, after the family moved to Newton County, Mississippi, he was attending school while simultaneously working as a farm laborer on the family farm alongside his father and sisters, Gerta and Arbola. Census records from that year indicate that he had learned to read and write.
The Great Migration to Chicago
During the 1920s, Dock and his wife Mary Ella Collier joined the growing wave of African American families leaving the rural South in search of greater economic opportunity in Northern cities. Their journey ultimately brought them to Chicago, Illinois, one of the major destinations of the Great Migration.
By 1930, the Charles family was living on Prairie Avenue in Chicago’s Fourth Ward. Dock worked as a laborer for a coal company while supporting a large household that included children Seretha, Leroy, James, Jessie Mae, Eugene, John, Donald C., and his younger brother Lester. Like many working-class families during this era, the household also took in lodgers to help manage living expenses during the increasingly difficult economic conditions that accompanied the Great Depression.
Later Years and Legacy
On April 27, 1942, at age forty-nine, Dock registered for the World War II “Old Man’s Draft” while residing at 329 East 59th Street in Chicago. His draft registration listed his employer as Edward Becker of the Consumer Company on South Chicago Avenue. Notably, he identified Naomi Gardner—likely his sister Naoma from his childhood in Mississippi—as the person who would always know his address, reflecting the enduring ties he maintained with his family over the decades.
Dock Charles spent the remainder of his life in Illinois, witnessing his children establish families and lives of their own. He remained part of the broader story of African Americans who journeyed from the rural South into the industrial cities of the North during the twentieth century.
He passed away in Cook County, Illinois, on October 30, 1975. His life traced a path through many defining experiences of Black American history: the post-Reconstruction South, agricultural labor in Mississippi and Arkansas, coal mining in Alabama, and the transformative migration to Chicago during the twentieth century.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- Birth and Early Life: * 1900 U.S. Census, Hurricane Creek, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, population schedule, Sheet 29, Dwelling 524, Family 524, household of Bob Charles.
- World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, Lee County, Arkansas; Roll: 1475141, Form 1, No. 167 (Dock Charles).
- World War II Fourth Registration Draft Cards (“Old Man’s Draft”), 1942, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; Serial No. U 1111 (Dock Charles). Note: The 1917 registration lists his birth year as 1892; the 1942 registration lists it as 1893; the 1900 and 1910 censuses imply 1894.
- Move to Newton County: * 1910 U.S. Census, Beat 4, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Sheet 10A, Enumeration District 0093, household of Bob Charles.
- Marriage and Early Family: * 1920 U.S. Census, Precinct 45, Jefferson County, Alabama, population schedule, Public Road From Ensley to Mulga, household of Dick [Dock] Charles.
- 1930 U.S. Census, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, Prairie Avenue, Ward 4, Block 165, Dwelling 77, Family 320, household of Dock Charles (noting age at first marriage as 19).
- Illinois Department of Public Health, Death Certificates (re: children John Lee Charles and Annie Tyson, indexing parents Dock Charles and Mary Ella Collier/Mary Charles).
- World War I Draft (Arkansas): * World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, Lee County, Arkansas; Registration Location: Union Precinct, Date of Registration: June 5, 1917. Local Registrar: M.A. Sharp.
- Alabama Mining Period: * 1920 U.S. Census, Precinct 45, Jefferson County, Alabama, household of Dick [Dock] Charles.
- The Great Migration and 1930 Census (Chicago): * 1930 U.S. Census, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, Fourth Ward, household of Dock Charles.
- 1940 Census and Marital Status: * 1940 U.S. Census, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, Michigan Avenue, Sheet 5B, Household 136, household of Doc Charles.
- World War II Draft (Chicago): * World War II Fourth Registration Draft Cards (“Old Man’s Draft”), 1942, Local Board No. 5, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois; Registrant’s Signature: “Dock Charles.”
- Death Record: * Illinois Department of Public Health, Cook County Death Index, 1975, File Number 626117 (Dock Charles, October 30, 1975).
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