Charles W. Chesnutt
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Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his
novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...
and
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
. Two of his books were adapted as silent films in 1926 and 1927 by the African-American director and producer
Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...
. Following the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
during the 20th century, interest in the works of Chesnutt was revived. Several of his books were published in new editions, and he received formal recognition. A commemorative stamp was printed in 2008. During the early 20th century in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Chesnutt established what became a highly successful court reporting business, which provided his main income. He became active in the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
, writing articles supporting education as well as legal challenges to discriminatory laws.


Early life

Chesnutt was born in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, to Andrew Chesnutt and Ann Maria (née Sampson) Chesnutt, both "
free persons of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
" from
Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
. His paternal grandfather was known to be a white
slaveholder The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she in ...
. He identified as African American but noted that he was seven-eighths white. Given his majority-European ancestry, Chesnutt could "
pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...
" as a white man, but he never chose to do so. In many southern states at the time of his birth, Chesnutt would have been considered legally white if he had chosen to identify so. By contrast, under the
one drop rule The one-drop rule is a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of Black people, black ancestry ("one drop" of "black blood")Davis, F. Jame ...
later adopted into law by the 1920s in most of the South,The one-drop rule was part of Virginia's Racial Integrity Act in 1924. he would have been classified as legally black because of some known African ancestry, even in spite of only being one-eighths black. After the end of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
and resulting emancipation, in 1867 the Chesnutt family returned to Fayetteville; Charles was nine years old. His parents ran a grocery store, in which Chesnutt worked part-time, but it failed because of his father's poor business practices and the struggling economy of the postwar South. In his early adolescence, Chesnutt was left to take care of his mother and siblings at home, due to his mother's failing health and eventual death. During this time, he published his first story in a small newspaper. In addition to his responsibilities at home, Chesnutt attended school in Fayetteville called the Howard School, and by the age of 14, he had become a pupil-teacher there due to financial needs. This school was one of many founded for black students by the
Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...
during the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
. As a teacher, Chesnutt was extended many new job offers, but difficulties of the time period, such as funding and methodological disagreements, caused many of them to be withdrawn. Throughout the remainder of his youth, Chesnutt continued to study and teach. In 1877, he was promoted to assistant principal of the
normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...
in Fayetteville, one of a number of
historically black colleges Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
established for the training of Black teachers. By 1880, he became the school's principal and Chief Executive Officer upon the death of the former principal, Robert Harris. After becoming principal, Chesnutt inspired many remarkable qualities in his students. He later resigned from his position in 1883, when he moved to New York City to pursue a writing career.


Marriage and family

In 1878, a year after he was employed at the normal school, Chesnutt married Susan Perry, a young African American who came from an esteemed family. Five years later, they moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
together, hoping to escape the prejudice and poverty of the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
. By 1898, they had three daughters named Helen, Ethel, and Dorothy, and one son, named Edwin. Their second daughter,
Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt (1880–1969) was a teacher of Latin and the author of an influential biography and Latin text book. She was African American. Family life Helen Maria Chesnutt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1880. Her parents w ...
, became a noted classicist and published a biography of her father, in which she attempted to avoid extraneous emotion, seeking to provide a detailed telling of her father's life as accurately as she could.


Legal and writing career

Chesnutt wanted to pursue a literary career, which he desired for the sake of providing for his family, as well as improving race relations with social commentary and literary activism. After spending six months in New York City, Chesnutt came to the conclusion that he could not raise a family there, and so the Chesnutts moved to Cleveland. In 1887, in Cleveland, Chesnutt studied the law and passed the
bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...
. Chesnutt had learned
stenography Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
as a young man in North Carolina, and used this skill to establish what became a lucrative court reporting (legal stenography) business, which made him "financially prosperous". Chesnutt also began writing stories, which were published by top-ranked national magazines. These included ''
The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', which in August 1887 published his first short story, "The Goophered Grapevine". It was the first work by an African American to be published by ''The Atlantic.'' In 1890, he tried to interest
Walter Hines Page Walter Hines Page (August 15, 1855 – December 21, 1918) was an American journalist, publisher, and diplomat. He was the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom during World War I. He founded the ''State Chronicle'', a newspaper in Rale ...
of Houghton Mifflin in his novel, ''A Business Career'', completed that year. Page said he needed to establish his reputation more before publishing a novel, but encouraged him. Dealing with white characters and their society, this novel was found among Chesnutt's manuscripts and eventually published in 2005. His first book was a collection of short stories entitled ''
The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...
'', published in 1899. These stories featured Black characters who spoke in
African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban ...
, as was popular in much contemporary
southern literature Southern United States literature consists of American literature written about the Southern United States or by writers from the region. Literature written about the American South first began during the colonial era, and developed significan ...
portraying the antebellum years in the South, as well as the postwar period. That year he published another short story collection, ''
The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment. On the death of her partner, a wife is referred to as a w ...
'' (1899), which included the title story, as well as "
The Passing of Grandison "The Passing of Grandison" is a short story written by Charles W. Chesnutt and published in the collection ''The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line'' (1899). The story takes place in the United States in the early 1850s,Chesnutt ...
", and others. These overturned contemporary ideas about the behavior of enslaved people, and their seeking of freedom, as well as raising new issues about African-American culture. ''Atlantic'' editors strongly encouraged Chesnutt in his writing, and he had a 20-year relationship with the magazine. Chesnutt's stories on racial identity were more complex than those of many of his contemporaries. He wrote about characters dealing with difficult issues of
mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
, " passing", illegitimacy, racial identities, and social place throughout his career. As in "The Wife of His Youth", Chesnutt explored issues of color and class preference within the Black community, including among longtime
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
in northern towns. The issues were especially pressing during the social volatility of Reconstruction and late 19th-century southern society. Whites in the South were trying to reestablish supremacy in social, economic and political spheres. With their regaining of political dominance through
paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
violence and suppression of Black voting in the late 19th century, white Democrats in the South passed laws imposing legal racial segregation and a variety of
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
rules that imposed second-class status on Black people. From 1890 to 1910, southern states also passed new constitutions and laws that disfranchised most Black people and many poor white people from voting. At the same time, there was often distance and competition between the masses of illiterate
freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...
making their way from slavery, and families established as free before the war, especially if the latter were educated and property-owning. Chesnutt continued writing short stories. He also completed a biography of the
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, who had escaped from slavery before the war and become renowned as a speaker and abolitionist in the North. Encouraged by ''Atlantic'' editors, however, Chestnutt eventually moved to the larger novel form. He wanted to express his stronger sense of activism. The magazine's press published his first novel, ''The House behind the Cedars'' (1900). His ''Marrow of Tradition'' (1901) was based on the
Wilmington Massacre of 1898 The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington coup of 1898, was a coup d'état and massacre carried out by white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, on Thursday, Novem ...
, when whites took over the city: attacking and killing many Black people, and ousting the elected biracial government. This was the only ''
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
'' in United States history. Eric Sundquist, in his book ''To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of American Culture '' (1993), described the novel as "probably the most astute political-historical novel of its day," both in recounting the massacre and reflecting the complicated social times in which Chesnutt wrote it.Jae H. Roe
"Keeping an "old wound" alive: 'The Marrow of Tradition' and the legacy of Wilmington"
''African American Review'', Summer 1999. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
Chesnutt wrote several other novels, though some of them were published posthumously. He also traveled around and gave regular lectures in different states, primarily going on tour in the north. Because his novels posed a more direct challenge to current sociopolitical conditions, they were not as popular among readers as his stories, which had portrayed antebellum society. But, among the era's literary writers, Chesnutt was well-respected. For instance, in 1905, he was invited to
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
's 70th-birthday party in New York City. Although Chesnutt's stories met with critical acclaim, poor sales of his novels doomed his hopes of a self-supporting literary career. His last novel, ''The Colonel's Dream'', was published in 1905 and detailed the actions of an ex-Confederate colonel returning to his hometown in North Carolina with hopes of reviving the town. He produced a play called ''Mrs. Darcy's Daughter'' in 1906, however, it did not make much money and was deemed a failure. Afterward, aside from a few small pieces, Chesnutt did not write or publish much of anything before his eventual death in 1932.


Writing

In style and subject matter, the writings of Charles Chesnutt straddle the divide between the local color school of American writing and
literary realism Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with ...
. One of Chesnutt's most important works was ''
The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...
'' (1899), a collection of stories set in postbellum
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. The lead character Uncle Julius, a formerly enslaved man, entertains a white couple from the North, who have moved to the farm, with fantastical tales of antebellum plantation life. Julius' tales feature such supernatural elements as haunting, transfiguration, and conjuring, which were typical of Southern African-American folk tales. But Uncle Julius is also telling the stories in ways crafted to achieve his own goals and care for his circle. Retrieved December 8, 2013. Julius' tales are similar to
Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a planta ...
' collection of folktales, the ''
Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post-Reconstruction era Atlanta, a ...
'' tales, but differ in that they indirectly provide commentary on slavery and racial inequality, and the psychological and social effects therein. Controversially, some argue that these stories reinforce African American stereotypes, but for the most part, critics typically agree that the stories are elevated by their allegorical depiction of racial injustice. Seven of the Uncle Julius tales were collected in ''The Conjure Woman''. Chesnutt wrote a total of fourteen Uncle Julius tales, the remainder of which were later collected in ''The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales'', edited by
Richard H. Brodhead Richard Halleck Brodhead (born April 17, 1947) is an American scholar of 19th-century American literature and served as the ninth president of Duke University. Early life and education Brodhead was born April 17, 1947, in Dayton, Ohio. His fami ...
and published posthumously in 1993. In 1899 Chesnutt published his ''The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line'', a collection of short stories in the realist vein. He explored many themes that also were used by 20th-century Black writers:
especially the prevalence of color prejudice" among blacks, "the dangers of 'passing', the bitterness of mulatto offspring..., the pitfalls of urban life and intermarriage in the North, and the maladministration of justice in the small towns of the South.
Both collections were highly praised by the influential novelist, critic and editor
William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...
in a review published in 1900 in the ''
Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', entitled "Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt's Stories".William Dean Howells
"Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt's Stories"
''Atlantic Monthly'', May 1900. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
While acknowledging Chesnutt as a Black writer, he says the stories are not to be first considered for their "racial interest" but it is as "works of art, that they make their appeal, and we must allow the force of this quite independently of the other interest." He described Chesnutt as
notable for the passionless handling of a phase of our common life which is tense with potential tragedy; for the attitude almost ironical, in which the artist observes the play of contesting emotions in the drama under his eyes; and for his apparently reluctant, apparently helpless consent to let the spectator know his real feeling in the matter.
''
The House Behind the Cedars ''The House Behind the Cedars'' is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Ch ...
'' (1900) was Chesnutt's first novel, his attempt to improve on what he believed were inadequate depictions of the complexity of race and the South's social relations. He wanted to express a more realistic portrait of his region and community drawn from personal experience. He was also concerned with the silence around issues of
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
and passing, and hoped to provoke political discussion by his novel. The issues are expressed chiefly through the trials of Rena Walden, a young, fair,
mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
woman who joins her brother in another town, where he is already passing for white and established as a lawyer. She and a white upper-class friend of his fall in love and become engaged. When her fiancée learns of her Black ancestry, he breaks their engagement, but tries to get her to agree to be his mistress. She leaves to teach in a Black school, but is assaulted there by a lower-class
mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
. She tries to return to her mother but dies on the way, although helped by a longtime Black friend.''
The Marrow of Tradition ''The Marrow of Tradition'' (1901) is a novel by the African-American author Charles W. Chesnutt, portraying a fictional account of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, an event that had just recently occurred. Plo ...
'' (1901), set fictionally against events like the Wilmington Race Riot, marked a turning point for Chesnutt.Lucy Moore
"Crossing the Color Line"
''The Atlantic Monthly,'' 31 January 2008. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
He combined leading characters who were prominent whites in town, together with a Black doctor who had returned from the North, exploring the difficulties for the latter in a small, prejudiced Southern town. Among the characters were half-sisters, one white and one Black, daughters of the same white father, who encounter each other during these events. With this and other early 20th-century works, Chesnutt began to address political issues more directly and confronted sensitive topics such as racial "passing",
lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
, and
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
, which made many readers uncomfortable. Many reviewers condemned the novel's overt politics. Some of Chesnutt's supporters, such as
William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...
, regretted its "bitter, bitter" tone. He found it powerful but with more "justice than mercy" in it. Middle-class white readers, who had been the core audience for Chesnutt's earlier works, found the novel's content shocking and some found it offensive. It sold poorly. His last novel, '' The Colonel's Dream'' (1905), was described as "a tragic story of an idealist's attempt to revive a depressed North Carolina town through a socioeconomic program much akin to the New South creed of
Henry W. Grady Henry Woodfin Grady (May 24, 1850 – December 23, 1889) was an American journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War. Grady encouraged the industrialization of the Sout ...
and
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
." It featured a white aristocrat who returns to his town during Reconstruction, when it is controlled by a lower-class white and is stagnating economically. Colonel Champion builds a new cotton mill, to try to establish business. He runs into conflicts because of racial discrimination and leaves the town in defeat. The book received little critical notice and sold hardly any copies. Chesnutt gave up thinking he could support his family by his writing. He built up his court reporting business, lectured in the North, and became an activist with the NAACP. The
Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
eclipsed much of Chesnutt's remaining literary reputation. New writers regarded him as old-fashioned, even believing him to be guilty of pandering to racial
stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
. They relegated Chesnutt to minor status. Overall, Chesnutt's writing style is formal and subtle. A typical sentence from his fiction is a passage from ''
The House Behind the Cedars ''The House Behind the Cedars'' is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Ch ...
'': "When the first great shock of his discovery wore off, the fact of Rena's origin lost to Tryon some of its initial repugnance—indeed, the repugnance was not to the woman at all, as their past relations were evidence, but merely to the thought of her as a wife." - Chapter XX, "Digging up roots". Starting in the 1960s, when the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
brought renewed attention to
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
life and artists, a long process of critical discussion and re-evaluation has revived Chesnutt's reputation. In particular, critics have focused on the writer's complex
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
technique, subtlety, and use of
irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...
. Several commentators have praised Chesnutt's exploration of racial identity, the manner in which he used African-American speech and folklore, and his criticism toward the skewed logic put forth by
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
laws. Chesnutt's longer works laid the foundation for the modern African-American novel.


Selected written works

* ''
The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...
'' (1899): Collection of seven short stories which explore themes of personal identity, both racial and social, in the aftermath of the Civil War. *''The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line'' (1899): Collection of nine short stories which take place in North Carolina and Ohio, focusing on Jim Crow laws and the racial prejudice between White people and Black people that characterized the time period. **"
The Wife of His Youth "The Wife of His Youth" is a short story by American author Charles W. Chesnutt, first published in July 1898. It later served as the title story of the collection ''The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line''. That book was first ...
": Chesnutt's most anthologized work; short story focusing on a young man from the midwest, which serves as an analysis of race relations within the Black community. **"
The Passing of Grandison "The Passing of Grandison" is a short story written by Charles W. Chesnutt and published in the collection ''The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line'' (1899). The story takes place in the United States in the early 1850s,Chesnutt ...
": Short story which takes place during the abolitionist movement, focusing on and addressing the issue of racial "passing." * ''Frederick Douglass'' (1899): Biography of famous abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. * ''
The House Behind the Cedars ''The House Behind the Cedars'' is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Ch ...
'' (1900): Novel which takes place in the Carolinas in the aftermath of the Civil War, and focuses on racial relations and identity in the post-war South. * ''
The Marrow of Tradition ''The Marrow of Tradition'' (1901) is a novel by the African-American author Charles W. Chesnutt, portraying a fictional account of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, an event that had just recently occurred. Plo ...
'' (1901): Novel which depicts a fictitious rendition of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, which refutes sensationalized versions of the event. * '' The Colonel's Dream'' (1905): Novel which takes place in the post-Civil War South, portraying the racial violence and oppression characteristic of the time period.


Published posthumously

* '' A Business Career -'' (Written in the 1890s; published 2005, University Press of Mississippi) Novel about an aspiring businesswoman from the late 19th century, which comments on an emergence of new women in American society. * ''Mandy Oxendine -'' (Written in the 1890s; published in 1997) Novel which challenges the idea that a person's identity defines their role in society. * ''Paul Marchand, F.M.C. -'' (Written in 1921; published 1998,
University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi. Universities * Alcorn State University *Delta State University *Jackson State University *Mississippi State U ...
) Novel that focuses on mixed marriage and the stigma against it. * '' Evelyn's Husband -'' (2005, University Press of Mississippi) Novel that depicts a high-society love triangle in the early 19th century, focuses on themes of love. * ''The Quarry -'' (Written 1928; published 1999, Princeton University Press) Novel focusing on Harlem's culture during the 20's.


Collection

* ''Stories, Novels and Essays: The Conjure Woman, The Wife of His Youth & Other Stories of the Color Line, The House Behind the Cedars, The Marrow of Tradition, Uncollected Stories, Selected Essays'' (Werner Sollors, ed.,
Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
, 2002) .


Adapted in film

In 1926, ''
The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...
'' was adapted by
Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...
into a film of the same name. In 1927, ''
The House Behind the Cedars ''The House Behind the Cedars'' is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Ch ...
'' was adapted by Oscar Micheaux into a film of the same name. In 2008, Dante James, a student at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, made a film adaptation of '' The Doll,'' one of Chesnutt's short stories. This story was first published in ''The Crisis'' in 1912. It was for a course entitled "Adapting Literature, Producing Film". The film premiered at the
San Diego Black Film Festival The San Diego Black Film Festival is one of the largest black film festivals in the United States. It was founded in 2002 as the Noir Film Festival and takes place annually in San Diego County, California, to recognize African American movies and p ...
on January 31, 2008, where
Clayton LeBouef Clayton LeBouef (born November 12, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his recurring role as Colonel George Barnfather in '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. He appeared in several episodes during each of the show's seven seasons on the a ...
won an award for "Best Actor".. It also won "Best Short Film" at The Sweet Auburn International Film Festival, and the "Short Film" award at the
Hollywood Black Film Festival The Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF), dubbed the "Black Sundance," is an annual six-day film festival held in Los Angeles, California dedicated to enhancing the careers of new and established black filmmaking professionals by bringing their w ...
.


Race relations

Chesnutt's views on race relations put him between Du Bois' talented tenth and Booker Washington's
separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protecti ...
positions. In 1905, he delivered a speech to the Boston Historical and Literary Association, and later published his speed as an essay titled "Race Prejudice; Its Causes and Its Cure." In the speech, he spoke about dismantling race antagonism "stone by stone" as the Black middle class continued to grow and prosper. As he recounted the history of Black achievements and spoke on poverty, Chesnutt cited many specific numbers and statistics in his speech, and called for full African American rights. Chesnutt had little tolerance for the new ideology of race pride. He envisioned instead a nation of "one people molded by the same culture." He concluded his remarks with the following statement, made 58 years before Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
delivered his "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
" speech:


Social and political activism

Starting in 1901, Chesnutt turned more energies to his court reporting business and, increasingly, to social and political
activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...
. Beginning in 1910, he served on the General Committee of the newly founded
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP). Working with
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
and
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
, he became one of the early 20th century's most prominent
activists Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
and commentators. Chesnutt contributed some short stories and essays to the NAACP's official magazine, ''
The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...
'', founded in 1910. He did not receive compensation for these pieces. He wrote a strong essay protesting the southern states' successful actions to disfranchise Black people at the turn of the 20th century. To his dismay, their new constitutions and laws survived several appeals to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, which held that the conditions imposed (by new electoral registration requirements,
poll taxes A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
,
literacy test A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...
s and similar conditions) applied to all residents and were therefore constitutional. Although a couple of rulings went against the states, they devised new means to keep Black people from voting. In 1917, Chesnutt protested showings in Ohio of the controversial film ''
The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...
'', which the NAACP officially protested at venues across the nation. In Ohio he gained prohibitions against the film. Set during Reconstruction, the film glorified the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, which had taken violent action against freedmen. The Klan was revived following this film, reaching a peak in membership nationally in 1925, as chapters were founded in the urban Midwest and West as well as the South. Chesnutt died on November 15, 1932, at the age of 74. He was interred in Cleveland's
Lake View Cemetery Lake View Cemetery is a privately owned, nonprofit garden cemetery located in the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and East Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1869, the cemetery was favored by wealthy families during the Gil ...
.


Legacy and honors

* In 1913, Chesnutt was awarded an honorary LLD from
Wilberforce University Wilberforce University is a private historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. It participates in t ...
. *1928, Chesnutt was awarded the NAACP's
Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May ...
for his life's work. *In 1987, construction of the Charles Waddell Chesnutt Library was completed at the Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. (Chesnutt had been the second principal of the Howard School, later known as Fayetteville State University.) *In 2002, the
Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
added a major collection of Chesnutt's fiction and non-fiction to its important "American Authors" series, under the title ''Stories, Novels And Essays: The Conjure Woman, The Wife of His Youth & Other Stories of the Color Line, The House Behind the Cedars, The Marrow of Tradition, Uncollected Stories, Selected Essays'' (Werner Sollors, ed.). His two major novels and some collected short stories are available online at the University of North Carolina, Wikisource. and other websites (see below). *On 31 January 2008, the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
honored Chesnutt with the 31st stamp in the Black Heritage Series. *Several of Chesnutt's works have been published posthumously, including essays. In 1989 William L. Andrews wrote of him:
Today Chesnutt is recognized as a major innovator in the tradition of Afro American fiction, an important contributor to the deromanticizing trend in post-Civil War southern literature and a singular voice among turn-of-the-century realists who treated the color line in American life.


See also

*
African American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of slave narratives, African-A ...
* ''
The Conjure Woman ''The Conjure Woman'' is a collection of short stories by African-American fiction writer, essayist, and activist Charles W. Chesnutt. First published in 1899, ''The Conjure Woman'' is considered a seminal work of African-American literature compo ...
'' (film version by
Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...
) * ''
The House Behind the Cedars ''The House Behind the Cedars'' is a 1927 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by the noted director Oscar Micheaux. It was loosely adapted from the 1900 novel of the same name by African-American writer Charles W. Ch ...
'' (film version by Oscar Micheaux)


Notes


References


Further reading

* Andrews, William. ''The Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt'', Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1980. Print. * * * * * * * * * Richardson, Mark. "Charles Chesnutt: Nowhere to Turn." I
''The Wings of Atalanta: Essays Written Along the Color Line''
(pages 164–204). Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2019.


External links

* * * *
"Charles W. Chesnutt"
Library of America
Charles W. Chesnutt, ''The Marrow of Tradition''
full etext at Wikisource
Charles W. Chesnutt, ''The House Behind the Cedars''
full etext at Wikisource

Sarah Browners, Berea College in cooperation with Fisk University Library
Chesnutt Literary Web
Rutgers University

(biography by Charles Chesnutt) Boston: Small, Maynard, 1899, hosted on ''Documents of the American South'', University of North Carolina
Chesnutt's "Sister Becky's Pickaninny"
, dramatization on VHS
The Charles Chesnutt Digital Archive



Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

Collection of Photographs
relating to Charles W. Chesnutt at
Cleveland Public Library Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesnutt, Charles 1858 births 1932 deaths African-American novelists Burials at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland Fayetteville State University NAACP activists Writers from Cleveland Spingarn Medal winners 19th-century American novelists American male novelists African-American short story writers American male short story writers 19th-century American short story writers 19th-century American male writers Novelists from Ohio 20th-century African-American people African-American male writers