Charles Henry Bell (1883-1977)
MSA SC 5496-050595
Alderman in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Biography:
Charles Henry Bell was born in Maryland on December 24, 1883, and the son of Harry Bell and Mollie Cooper.1 Bell married Vernice Bradford around 1904, with whom he had one daughter, Florine, in 1910. They likely lived in the District of Columbia until Vernice's death.2 Vernice passed away after sometime after 1910, and Charles married his second wife, Mary Bias (b. circa 1885), by 1920.3 That year, Charles and Mary Bell moved in with Charles' brother-in-law Frederick Mackell at 56 Northwest Street. Charles Henry Bell worked as a janitor at the time, while his wife Mary worked as a servant for a private family.4
In July 1923, Bell was elected Alderman for the Fourth Ward of Annapolis, along with another African American candidate, R. P. Dorsey Garver. Aldermen Bell and Garver, both Republicans, were the first black Aldermen in the history of Annapolis.5 At a City Council meeting on September 8, 1924, Bell proposed that "a small electric light be placed at the corner of Obrians Alley and North West Street, after being investigated by the Electric Light Committee."6
In 1925, the Republican Convention rejected Garver and Bell after they won the preliminaries, citing "the fact...that [Garver] was employed by Governor Ritchie at the Executive Mansion and was too friendly with the Democrats."7 The convention replaced them with Charles Oliver and Charles L. Spriggs, who both won the election unchallenged. The Washington Post reported that the majority of the black voters in the Fourth Ward resented the elimination of Bell and Garver.8 Consequently, approximately three hundred black voters and leaders, including Bell, formed a club that successfully supported the Democratic mayoral candidate, Allen Bowie Howard.9
In 1928, the Afro-American newspaper refered to Bell as a "leading race man in Annapoli and vicinity."10 Bell was one of the trustees for the Bi-State Association of Elks in 1933, when the association held a meeting on civil liberties.11 He was living on Clay Street in 1939.12
Charles Henry Bell died in Crownsville, Maryland, on December 25, 1977.13
1. U.S. Census Record (Census Record, MD) for Charles Henry Bell, 1920, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis Ward 4, District 26, Page 7 [MSA SM61-466, M 10102-1]; DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE DIVISION OF VITAL RECORDS (Death Record) Charles Henry Bell, 25 December 1977, Anne Arundel County [MSA SE46-1589].
2. "Florine Adams Offer." The Capital 26 May 2005. United States Obituary Collection. www.ancestry.com.
3. U.S. Census Record (Census
Record, MD) for Henry Bell, 1930, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis District
33, Page 41, Line 17 [MSA SM61-510, M 12915-1].
U.S. Census
Record (Census Record, MD) for Mary Bell, 1930, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis
District 33, Page 21, Line 24 [MSA SM61-510, M 12915-1].
4. U.S. Census Record (Census
Record, MD) for Charles Henry Bell, 1920, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis
Ward 4, District 26, Page 7 [MSA SM61-466, M 10102-1].
"Navy Secretary
Lauds Local Men For Long Service." The Capital 19 October 1953:
8. Access Newspaper Archives.
5. "Annap'lis Elects Two Aldermen." Afro-American 13 July 1923: 1.
6. ANNAPOLIS, MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, (Proceedings), Date: 1941-1947, [MSA Citation: MSA M49-26]. Page 310.
7. "Annapolis Will Elect
a Democratic Mayor." Afro-American 11 July 1925: A1. ProQuest Historical
Newspapers, Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988).
"Annapolis
Elects Democratic Mayor." Afro-American 18 July 1923: 3. ProQuest
Historical Newspapers, Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988).
8. "Annapolis Negroes Unite Agaisnt G.O.P." Washington Post 4 July 1925: 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post (1877 - 1993).
9. Ibid.
10. "Ex Alderman Heads Capital Smith Club." Afro-American 6 October 1928: 2.
11. LeRoy Clay. "What Lodges are Doing." Afro-American 4 March 1933: 9.
12. Polk's City Annapolis (Anne Arundel County, Maryland) Directory (Boston, MA: R.L. Polk & Co., Inc., 1939) 62, 267.
13. "Charles H. Bell." Evening Capital, 27 December 1977: 5.
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