In the mid-1800s, Dr. Bill Bazzelle's great-grandparents, Casberry and Matilda (Young) Bazzelle, were enslaved by the Barksdale family in Nevada County, Arkansas. 
After emancipation, one of the Barksdale sons formed a lifelong friendship with Matilda and Casberry’s son, Christopher Columbus (C.C.) Bazzelle. Like many Black Southerners of the time, the Bazzelles were farmers, primarily growing timber. However, C.C. did something extraordinary for a Black American at the time, he acquired over 100 acres of land near Rosston, Arkansas. It was in a log cabin on this land that C.C. Bazzelle’s eldest child William L. Bazzelle was born in 1898.
Aside from farming, C.C. Bazzelle was also a teacher at the local, segregated Oak Grove School and Church. The Barksdale family had donated the land for this multipurpose building in the late 1880s. It was originally a one-room structure with a separate schoolhouse built in the 1920s. This addition later burned down, but there was still an interest in expanding the school.
A few years later, C.C. Bazzelle donated lumber from his 100 acres of land and worked with the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) to build new facilities. This resulted in the creation the Wortham Gymnasium and a dormitory. At the time, this gymnasium was the only one for Black Americans in the state of Arkansas. Student athletes from all over the state traveled to Rosston to compete in the gym. For decades, the Oak Grove School was also one of few choices for young Black Arkansans wanting an education. Due to segregation policies, Black students were not allowed to attend most schools in the region. As such, Oak Grove attracted students from across the deep south and housed them in onsite dormitories.
By 1938, C.C. Bazzelle was the school district board president. His son, William L. Bazzelle, began his education at Oak Grove’s one-room schoolhouse before continuing at Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) for high school. Interested in both education and auto mechanics, William moved to Kansas City, Missouri and worked as a chauffeur while attending college.
After a couple years, William returned home to Rosston at C.C.'s request to teach at Oak Grove despite his desire to stay in Kansas City. He taught auto mechanics, math, and science before serving as the school’s principal. In the early 1940s, William also worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program that provided land development jobs during the Great Depression. Like his father, William eventually owned a farm, raising cattle and pine trees. Click to see a letter of recommendation related to William's work with the Civilian Conservation Corps.
In 1941, William married Mattie Lee Brannon, who joined Oak Grove as a teacher. Born in 1905 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, Mattie was also raised in a farming family. At 14, she moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, to live with a cousin and complete high school. She later earned a degree from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, becoming one of the few members of her family to pursue higher education.
Two years after their marriage, in 1943, Mattie and William welcomed their only child, William Edward “Bill” Bazzelle. As community leaders, the couple instilled strong values in their son. Mattie rose to become a high school principal and superintendent. She launched an adult night school program that enabled many locals to earn their GEDs. William, meanwhile, co-founded a mutual aid society to help local Black families afford burials and mentored students in securing jobs and education opportunities.
In this excerpt from Dr. William E. Bazzelle Sr.: A Life of Science & Service, Dr. Bazzelle talks about his mother and father:
Introduction | Heritage | Growing Up | College | Graduate School | DuPont Years | Family | STEM Mentorship | Philanthropy