Morris chestnut
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Charles W. Chesnutt: A Biographical Sketch
Celebrated for his poignant portrayals of American life in the Reconstruction and Nadir periods, Charles Waddell Chesnutt chronicled with unparalleled insight the intimate and complex web of familial, social, and economic relationships that zigzag across the color line. Chesnutt drew upon his extensive relationships, travels, deep reading, and professional experience to publish across a range of genres, as well as lecturing to audiences both public and private. Early on, writing for Chesnutt became an outlet to negotiate life in the postbellum South, and his prodigious reading of literature both classic and modern influenced his novels and short stories, whose engagement of questions of race and class continue to speak to readers today.
Early Life
Charles W. Chesnutt was born to Andrew Jackson Chesnutt and Maria Sampson Chesnutt in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 20, 1858. Both parents were free people of color from Fayetteville, North Carolina who had left Fayetteville in 1856 for better opportunities in Ohio. Andrew and Maria met while trav
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Chesnutt, Charles W.1858-1932, Writer. Charles Waddell Chesnutt, an Afro-American man of letters, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 20 June 1858, the son of free blacks who had emigrated from Fayetteville, N.C. When he was eight years old, Chesnutt's parents returned to Fayetteville, where Charles worked part-time in the family grocery store and attended a school founded by the Freedmen's Bureau. In 1872 financial necessity forced him to begin a teaching career in Charlotte, N.C. He returned to Fayetteville in 1877, married a year later, and by 1880 had become principal of the Fayetteville State Normal School for Negroes. Meanwhile he continued to pursue private studies of the English classics, foreign languages, music, and stenography. Despite his successes, he longed for broader opportunities and a chance to develop the literary skills that by 1880 led him toward an author's life. In 1883 he moved his family to Cleveland. There he passed the state bar examination and established his own court reporting firm. Financially prosperous and prominent in civic affairs, he resided in Cl
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CHESNUTT, CHARLES WADDELL
CHESNUTT, CHARLES WADDELL (20 June 1858-15 Nov. 1932) was an AFRICAN AMERICAN author and lawyer who dealt with sensitive issues, like race, from an African American point of view. Born in Cleveland to Andrew J. and Maria Chesnutt, the family moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the Chesnutts had family ties. Charles graduated from Howard School at 16 and additionally studied German, French, and Greek. He taught himself stenography to make a living. Chesnutt became a teacher in black schools in North Carolina, and at 19 was assistant principal of the New Fayetteville Normal School, and later its principal. He kept a journal, from which he would draw for his writing. Chesnutt returned to Cleveland in 1883; he worked as a stenographer for Judge SAMUEL WILLIAMSON and studied law. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1887 and served as a court reporter to support his family and writing.
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