Charles Chesnutt (1858 - 1932) was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but returned with his parents to their home in North Carolina when he was eight, shortly after the end of the Civil War. His parents had been free before the war, and Chesnutt was part white, part African American. Chesnutt worked as a school principal, stenographer, and lawyer before beginning to write about African Americans in the Reconstruction South. Chesnutt struggled with the stereotypical presentation and heavy dialect of most southern African Americans in Romantic and sentimental literature. He also wanted to show that even though African Americans in the South were not necessarily of the working class or as educated as their counterparts in the North, they were just as strong, complex, and intelligent. He created wise and clever African American characters who made the best of their lack of power and control in the South, outsmarting their white overseers by taking advantage of the fact that African Americans were considered to be stupid. He wrote about mixed and average Southern African Americans in an attempt to replace the popular folktales of his day that presented plantation life as a perfect world for all of its inhabitants. Because of this, his writing was influential within the Realist movement and served as a bridge to the Modernist movement and a catalyst within the Harlem Renaissance, both of which you will study later.
Reading Assignment: "The Goophered Grapevine"
It is now time to read Charles Chesnutt's short story, "The Goophered Grapevine." This is the first story by an African American ever published in theAtlantic Monthly. It involves a frame story about a narrator from Ohio looking for a vineyard to buy in North Carolina. The story within the story, though, is told by a former slave, Uncle Julius, who describes the history of the vineyard of scuppernong grapes where he has lived all his life. This story is not easy to read, as Chesnutt writes exactly the way Uncle Julius speaks, but read the text aloud or listen to the audio version, and you will be rewarded with a tale about a haunted vineyard, a crooked master, and the wiliness of Uncle Julius himself.
As you read, make note of character and setting descriptions as well as the use of dialect. You will use these observations on a future assignment. Additionally, use the reading guide linked below to help self-assess your understanding of the text.