leroy charles

1914-1990

Life Story

From Mississippi Roots to the Leadership Circles of Black Chicago

LeRoy G. Charles emerged from the generation of African Americans whose lives were transformed by the Great Migration. Born into a working-class Southern family shaped by agricultural labor and racial segregation, he rose through education, entrepreneurship, civic activism, and the legal profession to become one of the respected figures within Chicago’s Black legal and professional community during the mid-twentieth century.

His story stretched from the rural South to the boardrooms, courtrooms, civic organizations, and national legal conventions of Chicago’s Black Metropolis. Through determination, education, and public service, LeRoy Charles became part of the generation that helped build the institutional backbone of Black Chicago.

Early Life in Mississippi and Alabama (1914–1920)

LeRoy G. Charles was born on June 24, 1914, in Mississippi. He was the son of Dock Charles, a native of Alabama, and Mary Ella Collier Charles, whose family roots traced back to Newton County, Mississippi.

His early childhood unfolded during a period of enormous change for African American families across the South. Like countless Black families seeking greater opportunity after World War I, the Charles family moved westward into the industrial corridor surrounding Birmingham, Alabama.

By 1920, five-year-old LeRoy was living with his parents and siblings along the public road between Ensley and Mulga in Jefferson County, Alabama. His father worked to support the family while his mother managed the growing household.

The family included:

Seretha Charles
James Charles
Jessie Mae Charles
and eventually several younger siblings born during the family’s migration northward.

Though Alabama offered more industrial opportunity than rural Mississippi, the environment remained deeply segregated and economically unstable for African Americans.

Like many Southern Black families, the Charleses soon looked farther north.

The Great Migration to Chicago (1920s–1930)

During the 1920s, the Charles family joined the historic Great Migration to Chicago, Illinois. Drawn by stories of employment opportunities, Black political influence, and educational advancement circulating through newspapers such as The Chicago Defender, the family relocated to Chicago’s South Side.

By 1930, the Charles household was firmly established at 4919 Prairie Avenue in Chicago’s Fourth Ward, within the heart of the city’s growing Black Belt community, later known as Bronzeville.

The home reflected the realities of migrant urban life. The family household was large and crowded, filled not only with children but also extended relatives and boarders who helped support one another economically during difficult times.

Amid this bustling environment, fifteen-year-old LeRoy attended school, learned to navigate urban life, and absorbed the growing intellectual and cultural energy of Black Chicago.

The Social Club Era and Young Leadership (1931–1936)

As the Great Depression reshaped American life, Black youth on Chicago’s South Side created their own spaces for fellowship, networking, recreation, and intellectual development. Within this environment, LeRoy Charles emerged as a prominent young organizer and social leader.

By the early 1930s, he was serving as president of the Chavanon Social Club, sometimes recorded in newspapers as the Chavanon A. Club or Chananon Club.

The organization hosted elegant dances, meetings, and social events that became fixtures within South Side youth culture. Newspaper coverage in The Chicago Defender regularly mentioned LeRoy and his associates among the neighborhood’s social organizers and “card champions.”

In September 1932, the club sponsored a major “Big School Opening Dance” at the Blue Rose Rendezvous on East 48th Street, featuring music by Willie Gise’s Missourians. These events reflected the emergence of a sophisticated Black urban social culture during the Depression era.

LeRoy’s social leadership eventually expanded into educational and intellectual circles.

By the mid-1930s, he was attending Woodrow Wilson Junior College and serving as vice president of The Wilsonites, an organization dedicated to promoting higher education and honoring Black college graduates.

In June 1936, LeRoy addressed members during a buffet supper, explaining the club’s “ideals and purposes” to fellow students and young professionals. Even at a young age, he displayed the communication skills and civic awareness that would later define his legal and professional career.

Education and Early Professional Development

LeRoy’s commitment to education continued despite the economic hardships of the Depression.

By 1940, federal census records documented that he had completed three years of college—an important achievement for an African American man during that era.

At the same time, he worked forty-eight hours a week as a manager in a poultry store connected to the family business established by his mother, Mary Ella Charles.

The Charles household itself had become a center of intellectual and professional activity. Meetings connected to the John Marshall Law School Guild were occasionally held within the family home, bringing aspiring Black legal professionals into LeRoy’s orbit.

During these years, LeRoy transitioned from student and community organizer into an emerging businessman and future attorney.

The Family Poultry Business

The Charles family poultry enterprise became one of the foundations of the family’s economic mobility on Chicago’s South Side.

Mary Ella Charles had already established herself by 1940 as the owner and operator of a poultry store—an extraordinary accomplishment for a Black woman during the Depression era.

LeRoy later became heavily involved in both the management and legal representation of the family business.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, newspaper records documented zoning hearings, licensing disputes, and operational appeals involving Charles family poultry shops located at:

553 East 49th Street
and 537 East 61st Street.

LeRoy frequently appeared as attorney and spokesperson for the business, arguing before city zoning officials that the family had operated legally within the neighborhood for decades.

These legal disputes reflected the broader challenges Black-owned businesses often faced regarding licensing enforcement, zoning restrictions, and city regulation.

In one highly publicized 1947 case, LeRoy himself appeared in License Court after city inspectors accused the poultry store of overcharging a customer by twenty-eight cents on a turkey purchase. The case also revealed that his mother had faced similar enforcement actions years earlier.

Though minor on the surface, such incidents reflected the intense scrutiny frequently directed toward Black-owned businesses during the era.

Marriage to Rosa Charles

By 1950, LeRoy was married to Rosa Charles, who would become both his life partner and an important civic figure in her own right.

The couple represented a growing class of educated Black professional families emerging in postwar Chicago.

Rosa became deeply involved in the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Bar Association and appeared frequently in Chicago society columns documenting civic, legal, and cultural events attended by Black professionals.

Together, LeRoy and Rosa formed a highly visible civic partnership that extended into legal organizations, fundraising campaigns, educational initiatives, and national conventions.

The Assault Case and Challenge to Jim Crow

One of the most dramatic episodes in the Charles family story occurred in the aftermath of World War II.

In 1947, Rosa Charles filed a $50,000 lawsuit against the Norfolk and Western Railroad after allegedly being assaulted, dragged from a train, jailed, and accused of occupying a whites-only railroad car while traveling through Roanoke, Virginia.

According to the lawsuit, railroad personnel forcibly removed her from the train, separated her from her luggage, physically assaulted her, and jailed her for approximately twelve hours.

Though an all-white jury ultimately ruled against her after a lengthy trial, the case represented a direct challenge to the humiliations and violence of Jim Crow segregation.

The lawsuit also demonstrated LeRoy Charles’s willingness to confront racial injustice publicly through the legal system years before the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Rise Within Chicago’s Black Legal Community

By the 1950s, LeRoy Charles had firmly established himself within Chicago’s Black legal and civic leadership circles.

Census records identified him as the proprietor of his own law practice, working independently as an attorney serving members of the South Side community.

His work extended beyond courtroom representation. He became deeply involved in legal associations, civic organizations, educational programming, and community advancement initiatives.

LeRoy participated in educational forums sponsored by organizations such as the Gaudeamus Women’s Club, where his mother, Mary Charles, served as chairman of the Education Department.

These programs focused on:

law,
education,
politics,
religion,
civic responsibility,
and youth advancement.

The Charles family increasingly became associated with Black institutional leadership in Chicago.

Leadership in the Cook County Bar Association

LeRoy’s professional influence continued to expand throughout the late 1950s.

In 1958, he was elected Second Vice President of the Cook County Bar Association, one of the city’s most important Black legal organizations.

This leadership role placed him among an elite network of African American attorneys committed to advancing professional opportunities, legal reform, and racial equality within Chicago’s judicial system.

Newspaper coverage regularly placed LeRoy alongside prominent Black attorneys, judges, civic leaders, and educators at banquets, legal conferences, and organizational meetings.

By this period, he had become part of the leadership class helping shape Black professional life in mid-century Chicago.

Leadership Within the National Bar Association

LeRoy’s influence eventually reached the national level through extensive involvement with the National Bar Association (NBA), the nation’s leading organization for African American attorneys.

By the late 1950s, he served as Chicago regional director within the organization and participated in planning national conventions attended by some of the most influential Black legal minds in America.

Photographs and newspaper coverage placed him alongside nationally recognized attorneys, judges, educators, and civil rights advocates during NBA meetings held in Chicago, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and other cities.

His wife Rosa also rose to national prominence, eventually serving as president of the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Bar Association.

Together, the Charleses became part of a nationally connected Black professional network that linked law, civil rights, education, politics, and public advocacy.

Meeting with Senator John F. Kennedy

One of the defining moments of LeRoy’s public career occurred in 1960 when he joined a National Bar Association delegation meeting with Senator John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C.

The delegation discussed:

racial representation within the federal judiciary,
judicial appointments,
merit-based selection,
and opportunities for African American attorneys within public institutions.

Newspaper articles specifically identified LeRoy Charles as Chicago regional director for the NBA, while Rosa Charles was recognized as president of the Women’s Auxiliary.

The meeting placed LeRoy within direct conversations concerning national civil rights policy during the pivotal years immediately preceding the Kennedy administration.

For the son of Southern migrants who had once lived in crowded South Side apartments supported by poultry sales and boarders, the moment symbolized an extraordinary rise into national influence.

A Lasting Legacy

LeRoy G. Charles passed away on May 15, 1990, at the age of seventy-five.

His life reflected the full trajectory of the Great Migration generation:

from Southern agricultural roots,
to urban migration,
educational advancement,
entrepreneurship,
legal achievement,
civic leadership,
and national political engagement.

Through social clubs, legal associations, business ownership, educational advocacy, and public service, LeRoy Charles helped build the institutional foundations of Black Chicago during the twentieth century.

His story remains a testament to the determination of migrant families who transformed limited opportunities in the segregated South into professional achievement and civic influence in the urban North.

Resting Place

Unknown

Photos/Albums

Sources

1920 U.S. Census, Jefferson County, Alabama, population schedule, Ensley–Mulga Road district, household of Dock Charles; documenting LeRoy Charles as a five-year-old living with his parents and siblings.
1930 U.S. Census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago Ward 4, Prairie Avenue, household of Dock and Mary Charles; documenting the family’s migration to Chicago and LeRoy’s school attendance.
“Big School Opening Dance,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), September 1932; documenting LeRoy Charles as president of the Chavanon Social Club and organizer of South Side social events.
“Wilsonites Hold Buffet Supper,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), June 1936; noting LeRoy Charles’s participation as vice president of The Wilsonites and his remarks on the organization’s educational mission.
1940 U.S. Census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago, household of Mary Charles; documenting LeRoy Charles as having completed three years of college while working as a poultry store manager.
1940 U.S. Census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago, household of Mary Charles; identifying Mary Charles as owner and employer of a poultry business on Chicago’s South Side.
“License Court Fines Four Merchants for Overcharge,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), January 25, 1947; documenting licensing violations and overcharge accusations involving LeRoy Charles’s poultry business.
“Poultry Shop Owners Appeal City’s Ruling,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), November 1, 1953; documenting zoning appeals filed by Eugene and Mary E. Charles regarding poultry operations at East 49th Street and East 61st Street.
“Poultry Shop Appeals OK’d on South Side,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), November 8, 1953; reporting successful appeals allowing continued operation of Charles family poultry businesses.
1950 U.S. Census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago, household of LeRoy and Rosa Charles; documenting LeRoy Charles as proprietor of his own law practice.
“Asks $50,000 From Railroad For Assault,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), September 13, 1947; documenting Rosa Charles’s lawsuit against the Norfolk and Western Railroad involving allegations of racial assault and false imprisonment in Roanoke, Virginia.
“Chicago Woman Loses $50,000 Railroad Suit,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), October 1, 1949; detailing the jury verdict in Rosa Charles’s lawsuit concerning segregation and racial mistreatment aboard a railroad train.
“Gaudeamus’ Make Merry Rainbow Tea,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), October 22, 1955; documenting Mary Charles’s leadership role within the Gaudeamus Women’s Club Education Department and LeRoy Charles’s participation as a speaker.
“Law, Education, Politics and Religion Panel Topics,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), February 4, 1956; identifying LeRoy Charles as a participant in civic and educational discussions sponsored by the Gaudeamus Women’s Club.
“Lawyers Behind League’s Drive,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), August 17, 1957; listing LeRoy Charles among attorneys leading fundraising efforts for the Chicago Urban League.
“1,000 Lawyers To Attend 33rd National Convention,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), August 16, 1958; documenting LeRoy Charles’s participation in organizing the National Bar Association convention in Chicago.
“Plans for Chicago Convention of the National Bar Association,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), 1958; photograph and article identifying LeRoy Charles among convention organizers and national Black legal leaders.
“Charles Lane To Head Attorneys,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), December 27, 1958; documenting LeRoy G. Charles’s election as Second Vice President of the Cook County Bar Association.
“Mayor, Lawyers Honor Judge Green At Banquet,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), February 28, 1959; identifying LeRoy Charles among newly installed officers of the Cook County Bar Association.
“Barristers’ Wives Take Look At Some Lush Fashions For Fall,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), September 13, 1958; documenting Rosa Charles’s civic involvement within legal auxiliary and social organizations.
“NBA Officers Meet in Chicago,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), 1959; identifying LeRoy Charles as regional director of the National Bar Association and Rosa Charles as vice president of the Women’s Auxiliary.
“Senator Kennedy and Lawyers Representing the National Bar Association,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), September 24, 1960; photograph and article documenting LeRoy and Rosa Charles meeting with Senator John F. Kennedy regarding judicial appointments and civil rights representation.
“Select Judges On Merit—Jack,” Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), October 22, 1960; reporting LeRoy Charles’s participation in National Bar Association discussions with Senator Kennedy concerning federal judicial appointments and racial representation within the judiciary.
Cook County, Illinois, death records and obituary notices for LeRoy G. Charles, documenting his death on May 15, 1990, at the age of seventy-five.

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