Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born on 20th June 1858 in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents who were both ‘free persons of color’. His paternal grandfather was a white slaveholder, and Chesnutt although he identified as African-American noted that he was seven-eighths white. By age 20 Chesnutt had married and settled in Cleveland. After reading law and passing the bar exam he established a lucrative court reporting business, which rapidly elevated his financial standing.The Atlantic Monthly published his short story, and the first by an African-American, ‘The Goophered Grapevine’. This was quickly followed by 2 volumes of his short stories mainly themed with racial identity that were more complex than those of many of his contemporaries. Encouraged by Atlantic editors, Chestnutt moved to writing novels. It published his first ‘The House behind the Cedars’ in 1900.As well as business interests and his writing he also toured on the national lecture circuit, primarily in northern states.Despite this his novels received poor sales but excellent reviews and so a self-fueling literary career based on novels was beyond his reach. With the turn of the new century Chesnutt turned more energies to his court reporting business and in 1910, he served on the General Committee of the newly founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) becoming one of the early 20th century’s most prominent activists and commentators.Chesnutt is now regarded as an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance which did much to reinforce Black culture as a thriving, vibrant and essential part of 20th Century culture.Charles W Chesnutt died on 15th November 1932. He was 74.
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