Dave Chappelle
Chappelle in 2003, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: David Khari Webber Chappelle
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., U.S.
Date of Birth: August 24, 1973
Ethnicity: African-American [including Ivorian], one quarter African-Grenadian
Dave Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is known for his television series Chapelle’s Show, and for his stand-up comedy act.
Dave is the son of Yvonne Seon (born Yvonne K. Reed), a professor, university administrator, and Unitarian Universalist minister, and William David Chapelle III, a music professor and civil rights organizer. Dave’s African ancestry includes Ivorian. Dave is married to Elaine Mendoza Erfe, with whom he has three children. He converted to Islam when he was seventeen.
All of Dave’s grandparents were black. Dave has occasionally stated that his mother has recent white ancestry. It is not clear if any of Dave’s great-grandparents were white.
Dave’s paternal grandfather was Henry Talmage Chappelle (the son of William David Chappelle and Rosina/Rosena C. Palmer). Henry was born in Tennessee. His brother, Dave’s great-uncle W. D. Chappelle, Jr., was a physician and surgeon, who opened the People’s Infirmary, a hospital and surgery practice for African Americans in Columbia, SC. Dave’s great-grandfather William D. Chappelle was an educationalist, and a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who was President of Allen University. He was the son of Henry H. Chappelle and Patsie/Patsy McCrory/McCory. Dave’s great-grandmother Rosina’s father, Robert J. Palmer, who was a merchant and owned land, was a member of the South Carolina Legislature, then majority black, during Reconstruction.
Dave’s paternal grandmother was Leola M. Webber (the daughter of William Webber and Mary Emma Taylor). Leola was born in South Carolina.
Dave’s maternal grandfather was named George Raymond Reed (the son of Samuel Reed). George was born in Washington, D.C.
Dave’s maternal grandmother was named Beatrice Beakes Murray/Murry (the daughter of Moses Butler Beakes). Beatrice was born in Grenada, and was a real estate broker and civil rights activist.
Sources: Genealogies of Dave Chappelle – http://www.wargs.com
https://www.geni.com
Dave Chappelle says in his stand-up “Equanimity and The Bird Revelation”, that his mother is half white. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know, could be just part of his act.
https://bodyheightweight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/dave-chappelle-family-mother-Yvonne-K-Seon.jpg
I think it’s possible genetically, though I’d doubt she has any recent full-blooded European ancestry. As an example, my mom and her siblings are nearly half-European ancestry, but their most recent full-blooded ‘white’ ancestor is a great-grandparent. A lot of light-skinned/multi-racial folks have white ancestors even further back than this. You can get this kind of ancestry when these groups seek out partners who look like themselves.
His mom obviously is mixed. But I would say between 33-40% instead of 50/50. Dave Chappelle is likely as mixed as Chris Rock
This article states that Chappelle says his mother is half-white:
“At the Radio City Music Hall show, he delivers an aside about his own mixed heritage — his mother, Seon, is half-white — as well as his mixed-race family.”
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/27/325934596/the-elusive-dave-chappelle-re-emerges-but-for-how-long
Chappelle’s maternal grandfather was described as African-American in his obituary (at the wargs link), and Chappelle’s maternal grandmother was a Grenada-born civil rights activist.
On the DVD commentary, during the Clayton Bigsby sketch, Chappelle says that his grandfather was born to a white woman in a white hospital (segregation then). He said his grandfather could have been fully white or half-white but his birth father was unknown.
Dave’s African-American ancestry includes Ivorian.