A Life Shaped by Migration
I imagine Purnell Nathaniel Shields as a big, kind man with a round belly, a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard, and a room-filling laugh. His family called him “Southside,” a carpenter, house painter, handyman, cook, jazz fan, and patriarch. He was Michelle Obama’s maternal grandfather.
On December 19 or 20, 1910, Purnell was born in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. Although records and family materials offer varying dates, his name is always Purnell Nathaniel Shields. He was Robert Lee Shields and Anna Estelle Laws (occasionally Annie Lawson)’s second of three children.
Black families in the South struggled during his childhood. His father was a labourer and railway porter, but Robert Lee faded from public view. Purnell was a small boy when his family lost. One younger sister died in childhood, and his father’s disappearance left the family unclear.
Anna remarried Frank Coleman in the early 1920s and moved north with her children. The Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the South for safety, work, education, and freedom, included their move to Chicago. Chicago opened new horizons but did not end racism. Purnell built his career, raised a family, and established traditions for future generations in the city.
Work, Ingenuity, and Working Class Resilience
Purnell inherited a practical talent for building and repair. His father and grandfather had worked as carpenters, and he followed that family tradition. Over time, he worked as a carpenter, plasterer, painter, decorator, and general handyman.
His employment history shows the instability many Black Chicagoans endured in the 20th century. He worked in a syrup plant at 19. Later, he was a Northwestern Railroad turntable engineer who positioned locomotives for return journeys. City aid projects, clothing manufacturing, and residential construction were his jobs.
Racism limited his opportunities. Even with the abilities, Black workers had trouble getting better-paying union construction employment. Purnell adapted to whatever job was offered and became known for fixing, painting, building and decorating nearly anything.
He was not a wealthy man, and his life did not revolve around financial accumulation. His wealth was measured in other ways: a house full of relatives, music playing through multiple rooms, food on the table, and a family that knew where to gather. His resourcefulness became a form of protection.
Marriage and Children
Purnell married Adeline Rebecca Jumper, also recorded in some family materials as Rebecca Adaline Jumper or associated with the surname Coleman. They married in Cook County, Illinois, on December 21, 1929. Adeline was a licensed practical nurse and the daughter of Eliza Tinsley and James Jumper.
Some public family documents identify some of the couple’s seven children. Separation followed their marriage. Adeline was more private and less interested in Purnell’s wild parties, according to family memories.
The named children include:
| Child | Birth and death details |
|---|---|
| Carolyn Ann Shields | Born in 1930 and died in 1990 |
| Myril or Muriel Jeanne Shields | Born in 1932 and died in infancy |
| Adrienne Shields | Born in 1934 and died in 2006 |
| Robbie Joyce Shields | Born in 1935 |
| Marian Lois Shields Robinson | Born July 29, 1937, and died in May 2024 |
Other children are identified in private or less complete family records. The variations in names and dates reflect the difficulty of reconstructing working class family histories across several states and generations.
Marian was Purnell’s most famous daughter because she had Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. She was a secretary and married Chicago Water Department employee Fraser Robinson III. Marian and Fraser reared their children on Chicago’s South Side with discipline, education, humour, and family support.
The Meaning of Southside
Purnell lived on Chicago’s West Side before moving to the South Side. His grandchildren Michelle and Craig gave him the nickname “Southside” after that move. The name was affectionate and playful, but it also captured an important part of his identity.
The South Side was not simply a location. It was a community filled with Black churches, neighborhood businesses, musicians, workers, families, and political activity. Purnell became one of its vivid characters. He was the kind of grandfather whose presence altered the atmosphere of a gathering.
His barbecues and Fourth of July cookouts reunited families. His home became a kitchen, music area, meeting space, and informal family archive. Stories, jokes, fights, recipes, and memories exchanged. These gatherings preserved connectedness in a family shaped by migration, separation, and economic hardship.
Jazz in Every Room
Purnell excelled in music. He loved jazz and collected Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, and Stevie Wonder records. Though he loved cooking, especially fried chicken and milkshakes, music seemed to fill his soul.
He wired his home so that music could be heard in nearly every room, including the bathroom. He played drums and sometimes woke the household by putting on records at high volume. To Purnell, silence was not necessarily peaceful. A room came alive when a horn, voice, piano, or drumbeat entered it.
One family story tells of a house fire during which Purnell pleaded with firefighters not to spray water on his jazz albums. The story is humorous, but it also reveals how precious those records were to him. They were not merely possessions. They were companions and emotional landmarks.
He gifted Michelle Obama Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, her first album. The gift was part of a musical inheritance. Purnell introduced music as a language of joy, memory, and resistance, not ornamentation. Michelle thought paradise would be full of jazz after remembering him as “as big as heaven”.
The Shields Family Before Chicago
Purnell’s story reaches back through Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina to the era of slavery.
D.T. Shields was his paternal grandfather. Shields. D.T. despite having a white father, was born into slavery in Georgia in the 1860s. Carpentry led him to transfer his family from Georgia to Birmingham. He married several times and lived to 91, largely because he outlived his wives.
D.T.’s mother was Melvina Shields. She was born into slavery in 1840s Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was given $475 in Georgia during an inheritance division after an enslaver died. She had Dolphus with an anonymous white man as a teenager. Her life is essential to the family’s connection to slavery and freedom, however the circumstances are unknown.
Melvinia later worked as a midwife and lived for many decades. Her descendants carried her story forward through a changing South, the Great Migration, and the growth of Black communities in Chicago.
Purnell’s father, Robert Lee Shields, was the son of D.T. Shields and Alice Easley. Robert Lee married Anna Laws or Lawson in 1906. Their family history connected formerly enslaved people, Southern laborers, skilled tradesmen, migrants, and urban workers across several generations.
Purnell’s Influence on Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama knew Purnell as a grandfather rather than as a historical figure. She experienced him through food, music, jokes, family parties, and the unmistakable force of his personality.
His life also reflected a greater history. Born in Alabama, his family was shaped by slavery. He moved to Chicago as a child, overcame racial and economic barriers, raised children in a changing city, and formed a hospitality-based extended family.
He had convoluted Jim Crow-era Black attitudes. Experience had taught him to be wary of authority and white people. He told his kids not to let racism stop them. He believed rage could be understood without eternal imprisonment.
That message continued through Marian Robinson and into Michelle and Craig Robinson’s lives. Purnell’s legacy was therefore both intimate and historical. It lived in a record collection, a family recipe, a neighborhood memory, and a determination to keep moving forward.
Death and Burial
Purnell Nathaniel Shields died in Chicago on July 30, 1983, at the age of 72. His death was attributed to cardiac arrest. He was buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens South in Glenwood, Illinois.
Family members remembered his death date and his atmosphere. His grandchildren’s music, descendants’ gatherings, and stories of his kindness, intransigence, humour, and huge presence carried his legacy.
FAQ
Who was Purnell Nathaniel Shields?
Purnell Nathaniel Shields was an African American carpenter, painter, handyman, cook, jazz lover, and family patriarch from Chicago. He was the maternal grandfather of Michelle Obama.
Why was he called Southside?
He received the nickname “Southside” after moving from Chicago’s West Side to the South Side. Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson used the name affectionately when they were young.
When was Purnell Nathaniel Shields born?
He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 19 or 20, 1910. Different family records give slightly different dates.
Who were his parents?
His parents were Robert Lee Shields and Anna Estelle Laws, also recorded as Annie Lawson. Robert worked as a laborer and railroad porter, while Anna later remarried Frank Coleman and moved the family to Chicago.
Who was Purnell’s wife?
He married Adeline Rebecca Jumper, also known as Rebecca Adaline Jumper in some records, on December 21, 1929, in Cook County, Illinois. They later separated.
How many children did he have?
Purnell and Adeline had seven children. The most widely identified children include Carolyn Ann, Myril or Muriel Jeanne, Adrienne, Robbie Joyce, and Marian Lois Shields Robinson.
Who was Marian Shields Robinson?
Marian Shields Robinson was Purnell’s daughter and the mother of Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. She helped raise her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, during the Obama presidency.
What kind of music did Purnell enjoy?
He especially loved jazz and listened to artists including Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, and Stevie Wonder. He played drums and kept music playing throughout his home.
What was Purnell’s connection to slavery?
His paternal grandmother, Melvinia Shields, was born into slavery in South Carolina and later transferred to Georgia. His grandfather, Dolphus Theodore Shields, was born into slavery in Georgia. Their descendants eventually moved through Birmingham and into Chicago.
When did Purnell Nathaniel Shields die?
He died in Chicago on July 30, 1983, from cardiac arrest. He was 72 years old and was buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens South in Glenwood, Illinois.
