Charles W. Chesnutt at the age of 40

Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an African American author and political activist best known for novels and short stories from Fayetteville, North Carolina. His paternal grandfather was a white slaveholder. Issues of miscegenation, "passing", and racial identity would influence his writing throughout his career. Image File history File links Charles_W_Chesnutt_40. ... Image File history File links Charles_W_Chesnutt_40. ... June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. ... 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Cross Creek Linear Park Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina. ... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Look up Slavery in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Slavery is a condition of control over a person against their will, enforced by violence or other forms of coercion. ...

After the Civil War, the family returned to Fayetteville, where they ran a grocery store. Charles entered school at the age of eight, and at fourteen became a student-teacher to help support his family following his mother's death. He continued to study and teach, eventually becoming assistant principal of the normal school in Fayetteville. Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... A principal is generally the chief administrator in an elementary school, middle school, or high school. ... A normal school is an institution for training teachers. ...

In 1878, he married Susan Perry and moved to New York City, where he hoped to escape the prejudice and poverty of the South and pursue a literary career. After six months he moved back to Cleveland, where he studied for and passed the bar exam in 1887. He had also learned stenography as a young man in North Carolina, and he established a lucrative stenography business. Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Historic Southern United States. ... A bar examination is an series of tests conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given American examination usually consists of the following: complicated essay questions concerning that jurisdictions law; the Multistate Bar Examination, a standardized, nationwide examination containing generalized... Shorthand is a writing method that can be done at speed because an abbreviated or symbolic form of language is used. ...

While living in Cleveland, he began writing stories, which appeared in various magazines, including Atlantic Monthly. His first book, The Conjure Woman, was published in 1899. He continued writing short stories, and a biography of Frederick Douglass. He also wrote several full-length novels and appeared on the lecture circuit. The Atlantic Monthly (also known as The Atlantic) is an American literary/cultural magazine that was founded in November 1857. ... Frederick Douglass, ca. ... A lecture on linear algebra at the Helsinki University of Technology A lecture is an oral presentation intended to teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. ...

Although his stories met with critical acclaim, poor sales of his novels doomed his literary career. He devoted himself to his business and, increasingly, to social and political activism. He served on the General Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Working side-by-side with W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, he became one of the era's most prominent activists and commentators. In 1928, he received the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for his life's work. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, generally pronounced as EN Double AY SEE PEE) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. ... W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (pronounced ) (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was a civil rights activist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar, and socialist. ... Booker T. Washington he was dimb Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856, – November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator and author. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as involvement in action to bring about change, be it social, political, environmental, or other change. ... The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for outstanding achievement by a Black American. ...

Charles Waddell Chesnutt died in 1932 and was interred in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery.

Writing

Chesnutt's style and subject matter place him in the local color school of American writing, though various short stories (e.g., "The Wife of His Youth") border on realism. In its style, setting in the pre-war plantations of the South, and its use of dialect, The Conjure Woman is reminiscent of the works of Joel Chandler Harris, but differs in its pointed commentary on the institution of slavery. Set in a rapidly receding past, the stories were not calculated to challenge white readers' assumptions, especially since neither Chesnutt nor his publishers revealed his race. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A sugarcane plantation at Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, 2005 A plantation is a large tract of monoculture, as a tree plantation, a cotton plantation, a tea plantation or a tobacco plantation. ... Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 8, 1848 - July 3, 1908) was an American journalist from Georgia, best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories: Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings (1881), Nights with Uncle Remus (1883), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), and Uncle... The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ...

Chesnutt's library at his Cleveland home

The Marrow of Tradition (1901), a fictionalized account of the Wilmington Race Riot, marked a turning point for Chesnutt's writing. He began to speak out more directly on political issues, and confronted uncomfortable topics like racial "passing", lynching, and miscegenation. Many reviewers condemned the novel's overt politics, and even Chesnutt supporters like William Dean Howells openly regretted its raw and "bitter" tone. Middle-class white readers who had been the core audience for Chesnutt's earlier works found the novel's content shocking and even offensive, and it sold poorly. Image File history File links Charles_W_Chesnutt_Library. ... Image File history File links Charles_W_Chesnutt_Library. ... A novel by Charles Waddell Chesnutt published in 1901 and based on the 1898 race riots in Wilmington, North Carolina. ... The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina and is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following reconstruction. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Lynching is a form of violence, usually murder, conceived of by its perpetrators as extra-legal punishment for offenders or as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. ... It has been suggested that Anti-miscegenation laws be merged into this article or section. ... William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist author. ...

The Harlem Renaissance eclipsed much of Chesnutt's remaining literary reputation. Regarded as an old-fashioned writer who sometimes pandered to racial stereotypes, Chesnutt was relegated to minor status. A long process of critical discussion and re-evaluation starting in the 1960s revived his reputation. In particular, critics have focused on his complex narrative technique, subtlety, and use of irony. Several of his novels have been published posthumously. In 2001, the Library of America added a major collection of Chesnutt's fiction and non-fiction to its series of important American authors. The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in the United States led primarily by the African American community based in Harlem, New York City, after World War I. Literary historians and academics have yet to reach a consensus as to when the period... In modern usage, a stereotype is a simplified mental picture of an individual or group of people who share a certain characteristic (or stereotypical) qualities. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Irony, from the Greek ειρων (self-deprecator), is a literary or rhetorical device in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ... Volumes in the Library of America series The Library of America (LoA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. ...

Selected works

• The Conjure Woman, and Other Conjure Tales (1899)
• The Wife of His Youth, and Other Stories of the Color Line (1899)
• Frederick Douglass (1899)
• The House Behind the Cedars (1900)
• The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
• The Colonel's Dream (1905)
• Mandy Oxendine (written in the 1890s; first published in 1997)
• Paul Marchand, F.M.C. (written in 1921; first published 1998)

External links

• Works by Charles Chesnutt at Project Gutenberg
• Collection of Chesnutt E-Texts at the University of North Carolina
• Charles W. Chesnutt at Library of America
• Chesnutt Literary Web at Rutgers University
• The Charles Chesnutt Digital Archive

he became a big time lawer and bitch seller Project Gutenberg logo Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works via book scanning. ...

References

The Anger and the Irony. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved on January 16, 2006. January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

See also

• African American literature