Charles Waddell Chesnutt best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. He became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, writing articles supporting education as well as legal challenges to discriminatory laws.
Following the Civil Rights Movement during the 20th century, interest in the works of Chesnutt was revived.
In style and subject matter, the writings of Charles Chesnutt straddle the divide between the local color school of American writing and literary realism.
While Julius's tales recall the Uncle Remus tales published by Joel Chandler Harris, they differ in that Uncle Julius' tales offer oblique or coded commentary on the psychological and social effects of slavery and racial inequality. While controversy exists over whether Chesnutt's Uncle Julius stories reaffirmed stereotypical views of African Americans, most critics contend that their allegorical critiques of racial injustice took them to a different level.
Contents:
THE NOVELS
The House behind the Cedars
The Marrow of Tradition
The Colonel's Dream
THE SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales
The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line
Uncollected Stories
THE NON-FICTION
Frederick Douglass
The Disfranchisement of the Negro
Uncollected Essays
