Charles W. Chesnutt

by Chesnutt, Charles Waddell; McElrath, Joseph R.; Leitz, Robert C.; Crisler, Jesse S.

• ISBN13: 9780804735490
• ISBN10: 0804735492
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

Over the past decade, increasing attention has been paid to the life and work of Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932), considered by many the major African-American fiction writer before the Harlem Renaissance by virtue of the three novels and two collections of short stories he published between 1899 and 1905. Less familiar are the essays he wrote for American periodicals from 1899 through 1931, the majority of which are analyses of and protests against white racism. Collected as well in this volume are the addresses he made to both white and black audiences from 1881 through 1931, on topics ranging from race prejudice to the life and literary career of Alexandre Dumas. The 77 works included in this volume comprise all of Chesnutt's known works of nonfiction, 38 of which are reprinted here for the first time. They reveal an ardent and often outraged spokesman for the African American whose militancy increased to such a degree that, by 1903, he had more in common with W. E. B. Du Bois than Booker T. Washington. He was, however, a lifelong integrationist and even an advocate of "race amalgamation," seeing interracial marriage as the ultimate means of solving "the Negro Problem," as it was termed at the end of the century. That he championed the African American during the Jim Crow era while opposing Black Nationalism and other "race pride" movements attests to the way Chesnutt defined himself as a controversial figure, in his time and ours. The essays and speeches in this volume are not, however, limited to polemical writings. An educator, attorney, and man of letters with wide-ranging interests, Chesnutt stands as a humanist addressing subjects of universal interest, including the novels of George Meredith, the accomplishments of Samuel Johnson, and the relationship between literature and life.

Table of Contents

Preface
Editorial Note
Introduction
Etiquette	p. 1
The Advantages of a Well-Conducted Literary Society	p. 13
The Future of the Negro	p. 24
Self-Made Men	p. 33
Methods of Teaching	p. 40
Things To Be Thankful For	p. 54
Advice to Young Men	p. 55
An Inside View of the Negro Question	p. 57
What Is a White Man?	p. 68
Some Uses and Abuses of Shorthand	p. 74
A Multitude of Counselors	p. 78
Some Requisites of a Law Reporter	p. 84
Resolutions Concerning Recent Southern Outrages	p. 88
Competition	p. 90
Why I Am a Republican	p. 95
Liberty and the Franchise	p. 101
Literature in Its Relation to Life	p. 109
On the Future of His People	p. 116
A Plea for the American Negro	p. 118
The Future American: What the Race Is Likely to Become in the Process of Time	p. 121
The Future American: A Stream of Dark Blood in the Veins of the Southern Whites	p. 126
The Future American: A Complete Race-Amalgamation Likely to Occur	p. 131
Introduction to Temple Course Reading	p. 136
The White and the Black	p. 139
A Visit to Tuskegee	p. 145
A Defamer of His Race	p. 152
Superstitions and Folk-Lore of the South	p. 155
The Negro's Franchise	p. 161
Charles W. Chesnutt's Own View of His New Story, The Marrow of Tradition	p. 169
Obliterating the Color Line	p. 170
Pussy Meow: The Autobiography of a Cat	p. 172
The Free Colored People of North Carolina	p. 173
The Disfranchisement of the Negro	p. 179
The Race Problem	p. 196
Peonage, or the New Slavery	p. 205
For Roosevelt	p. 209
The Literary Outlook	p. 211
Race Prejudice: Its Causes and Its Cures	p. 214
Age of Problems	p. 238
Rights and Duties	p. 252
The Courts and the Negro	p. 262
Lincoln's Courtships	p. 271
The Right to Jury Service	p. 274
Who and Why Was Samuel Johnson?	p. 281
Abraham Lincoln	p. 299
The Status of the Negro in the United States	p. 302
Address to the Medina Coterie	p. 308
Perry Centennial	p. 322
Race Ideals and Examples	p. 331
Abraham Lincoln: An Appreciation	p. 349
Alexander Dumas	p. 353
The Ideal Nurse	p. 371
Women's Rights	p. 383
A Solution for the Race Problem	p. 384
George Meredith	p. 402
Social Discrimination	p. 423
The Negro in Books	p. 426
Introduction to a Reading from an Unpublished Story	p. 441
The Will of John Randolph	p. 442
Address to Colored Soldiers at Grays Armory	p. 449
Negro Authors	p. 458
The Mission of the Drama	p. 461
Resolutions Concerning the Recent Election	p. 464
The Autobiography of Edward, Baron Herbert of Cherbury	p. 468
Remarks of Charles W. Chesnutt Before Cleveland Chamber of Commerce Committee on Negro Migration and Its Effects	p. 480
The Negro in Art: How Shall He Be Portrayed?	p. 490
Address Before Ohio State Night School	p. 494
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass	p. 503
Remarks of Charles Waddell Chesnutt, of Cleveland, in Accepting the Spingarn Medal at Los Angeles	p. 510
The Negro in Present Day Fiction	p. 516
Advice for Businessmen	p. 530
The Negro in Cleveland	p. 535
Post-Bellum - Pre-Harlem	p. 543
The Writing of a Novel	p. 549
Why Do We Live?	p. 553
Joseph C. Price, Orator and Educator: An Appreciation	p. 554
The Term Negro	p. 565
Index	p. 569
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.