Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Charles Waddell Chesnutt was the first major African American fiction writer to achieve broad critical recognition, using the trickster folk tale tradition and realist social fiction to anatomize American racial injustice. The Marrow of Tradition is his masterwork.
Works
- The Marrow of TraditionNovel examining race, identity, and violence in post-Reconstruction North Carolina
- The House Behind the CedarsStory of light-skinned Black woman passing as white and discovering her heritage
- The Conjure WomanCollection of stories featuring conjure magic in post-slavery African American South
- The Wife of His YouthShort story collection on race, marriage, and identity in African American life
- Paul Marchand F.M.C.