Charles W. Chesnutt
Though born in Cleveland in 1858, the grandson of a white man and the son of free blacks, Charles W. Chesnutt grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina where his family, having left the South originally in 1856, returned after the Civil War. Chesnutt who had little formal education taught himself and also received tutoring from family members. Chesnutt is known as one of the great American novelist and short-story writers of the late 19th century.
Chesnutt lived most of his childhood in Fayetteville, NC where he
worked part time in a family grocery store and attended a school founded by
the Freedmen’s Bureau. By 14 he had published his first short story in a
Fayetteville newspaper. I think I must write a book It has been my
cherished dream and I feel an influence that I cannot resist calling me to
the task. (1) At 15 Charles dropped out of school to support his family.
By the age of 16, he had come to Charlotte to teach the city’s
black schoolchildren and also to support his family. He had an
intense thirst for knowledge. At a time when few educational opportunities
existed for black Americans, he studied math, music, literature and
languages. He left Charlotte to take a job as assistant principal of the State
Normal School. By age 22, he was its principal. There’s time enough, but
none to spare. (1)
Lack of opportunity to advance led him to go to New York City
The Homework on Advantages Of Changing The High School Start Time
Advantages of changing the high school start time. Education is very important part of our life, so no wonder that our government focuses great attention on both: education process and the students being the integral part of good educational system. The modern school educates children with one objective in mind: their academic success. There are many committees investigating the option of a later ...
to find work at Dow, Jones and Company and also writes a financial
news column for the New York Mail and Express. Later that year his
son Edwin J. Chesnutt is born. In November, he leaves New York for
Cleveland where he begins to work in the accounting department of
Nickel Plate Railroad Company. While in Cleveland Chesnutt studied
Law.
While in Cleveland Chesnutt supports his mother and father
while supporting his own family. Chesnutt begins to write for Family
Fiction. While working at Nickel Plate Railroad Company and
writing for Family Fiction he continues to study law. A year later, he
passes the Ohio Bar Exam and joins the law offices of Henderson,
Kline, and Tolles. Chesnutt published The Goophered Grapevine in
the Atlantic Monthly became the first work written by a black author.
The success of The Goophered Grapevine leads him to publish Po
Sandy and Dave s neckliss in the Atlantic Monthly.
Chesnutt decides to start his own firm of Attorneys, stenographers,
and court reporters. Employing a large number of minority who were
not hired by larger firms. Chesnutt starts to feel overwhelmed with
writing and being a full time attorney. Charles takes a two month
vacation to Europe. When he returns he decides to give up his firm
and become a full time writer.
As a full time writer Chesnutt he publishes The Wife of His
Youth in the Atlantic Monthly. Later in 1899 he publishes his best
known book The Conjure Woman which is a retelling of seven
African-American slave folk tales from the cape fear region of
North Carolina. Chesnutt s use of irony and humors in his works
prevented the alienation of white readers.
The success of The Conjure Woman brought much attention and
The Essay on Juggling Work, School, and Family
When I decided to go back to school, I realized it would have a lot of consequences and not only for me, but also on my family and maybe also my daily job. I work a fulltime job; I’m married and have a daughter and a son still living with me. With all that considered, I had to work out all the possible effects it would have on all the effects it may have. I work as an “accounts receivable analyst ...
praise to Chesnutt who accepted harsher criticism on his other works,
because many reviewers were bothered by Chesnutt’s excessive
concentration on issues such as segregation and miscegenation.
Impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or
which we do not wish to happen. (1) In March of 1900, Houghton Mifflin
accepted Chesnutt’s first novel The House behind the Cedars , for
publication. According to the author, the plot of the novel was simple: it is
“a story of a colored girl who passed for white. The story brings out a
problem that many Chesnutt’s contemporary writers and politicians tried to
cope with – the issue of racial identity. By introducing racially mixed
characters like John and Rena Walden, Chesnutt advocates the right of
mixed races to be accepted on equal terms with whites.
In order to support his family, Chesnutt was forced to reopen his court
reporting business which he closed in 1899. Chesnutt shifted his
literary concentration towards essays and short articles regarding racial
issues. He also experimented in writing entertaining, non-controversial
novels about the high society of the North. The result was “Baxter’s
Procrustes,” his last novel to be published in the Atlantic.
When Chesnutt finally completed a new novel about racial issues, The
Colonel’s Dream, Houghton Mifflin didn’t accept it with previous
enthusiasm, and requested much revision and development from the author.
After the book was published, critics evaluated it poorly, and declared the
novel full of pessimistic mood and unpleasant for reading. The Colonel’s
Dream gave Chesnutt a final hint that the interest of public didn’t coincide
with his own, and in order to sell, he had to turn to other forms of literature. In 1906, Chesnutt wrote a play in four acts, “Mrs. Darcy’s Daughter,” but again failed to find a producer to make it a financial success.
During his own lifetime, Charles Waddell Chesnutt was recognized as
a pioneer in treating racial themes. Throughout the years he was writing and
publishing, he continued to operate a successful business and to participate
The Essay on Racial Issues in the 17th Century
Racial Issues in the 17th Century During the 17th century, colonialism led to the development of both the social, racial and political institutions. An example is the act of slavery, especially in the second society, after the emergence of the first society from Asia. The first society settled in the present day Alaska. Up to date, it is not yet known how most of the black Americans that were ...
in programs dedicated to social justice. In 1928, he was awarded the
Spingarn Medal for pioneer work as a literary artist depicting the life and
struggles of Americans of Negro descent, and for his long and useful career
as scholar, worker and freeman. The Fayetteville State University Library
is named for Chesnutt; a State Highway Historical Marker marks where he
taught in Fayetteville, North Carolina; and in Cleveland, Ohio, a street and a
school are named for him.
