Charles W. Chesnutt
Charles W. Chesnutt
 Charles W. Chesnutt, America's first great Black novelist, lived
in the distinct political, social and cultural environment that
found expression in his literary works.
 Though born in Cleveland in 1858, the grandson of a white
man and the son of free blacks, Chesnutt grew up in
Fayetteville, North Carolina where his family, having left the
South originally in 1856, returned after the Civil War.
Charles W. Chesnutt
 Chesnutt attended a school funded by the Freedman's Bureau,
and then worked as a teacher and eventually as a school
principal in Charlotte and in Fayetteville.
 Despite his personal success, Chesnutt resented the racial
oppression of the South.
 Believing a more hospitable environment existed in the North,
he moved his family to Cleveland in 1884, where he worked
first as a court reporter and then as founder of a successful
legal stenography company.
Charles W. Chesnutt
 Chesnutt also had a passion for writing, and began publishing
short stories in 1885.
 "Dave's Neckliss" was among the first stories written in black
dialect by a black author, using the language to convey not
only authenticity but also moral complexity.
 Chesnutt's work dealt primarily with the South, and especially
with themes of interracial sex and the phenomenon of people
legally defined as "black" whose relatively light skin color
enabled them to "pass" as "white."
Charles W. Chesnutt
 He stopped writing fiction in the early twentieth century,
devoting his energies to business and to organizations
dedicated to improving the lot of African-Americans.
 Chesnutt wrote powerful essays on the political and economic
exploitation of Southern blacks and served as a member of the
General Committee of the NAACP, making him one of the
most important commentators on racial issues in the early
twentieth century, along with men such as W.E.B. DuBois and
Booker T. Washington.
 In 1928, the NAACP awarded Chesnutt its Spingarn Medal for
his life's work. Charles W. Chesnutt died in 1932.
The Historical Context:
The Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850
 Before 1850, slaves could not be chased into the free states.
That changed in 1850 because of the Fugitive Slave Act.
 The Fugitive Slave Act made it against the law to help escaped
slaves. Bounty hunters were allowed to go into free states and
capture runaway slaves.
 If any United States Marshall refused to return a runaway slave
would have to pay a penalty of $1,000 (that was a lot of money
back then). It was illegal to assist an escaped slave.
The Historical Context:
The Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850
 The Fugitive Slave Act mandated the return of runaway slaves,
regardless of where in the Union they might be situated at the
time of their discovery or capture.
 Along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the ratification of
Kansas' admission for free statehood, this legislation is part of
the chain of events which culminated in the American
Civil War.
The Historical Context:
The Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850
 Charles Chesnutt lived during a very peculiar time (18581932). Chesnutt was a young boy during the Civil War.
 Life was rough and unfair for people of color especially those
with black blood. Those with even a drop of black blood were
mistreated and were rarely, if ever, treated fairly.
 The following is a court case from the United States Supreme
Court that occurred during Chesnutt's lifetime. It hold some
significance to Chesnutt's literary works in one form or another.
Ableman v. Booth
 This case deals with an abolitionist who helps a slave to
freedom and so is charged with violating the Fugitive Slave
Acts.
 He appealed to the state Supreme Court and was released. The
case was then appealed to the United States Supreme Court by
U.S. Marshall who arrested the abolitionist.
 This case is also related to "The Passing of Grandison" because
the story talks about abolitionist trying to help free slaves
which was what happened with Booth (the abolitionist).
“The Passing of Grandison"
 Point of view:
Through the filtered perspective utilized by the narrator,
we as readers are only allowed to see the same Grandison
which Dick and the Colonel see, thus limiting our knowledge
and observations of his character to those characteristics
displayed only in the company of the white people in the story.
Grandison
 Upon Grandison’s introduction, the reader observes a man who
appears to appreciate his life as a slave and desire no more
from life than what can be found on the plantation, hate “dem
low-down free niggers” and “dem cussed, low-down
abolitioners” (which endears him to the Colonel more than
anything), and, in general, be the picture of the model slave.
 After all, Grandison’s loving “marster” has always been
benevolent enough to grant him enough food, whiskey, and
tobacco.
 So why would he, a common slave who has known no other
way to live, desire any more from life?
Grandison
 As “The Passing of Grandison” ends, our final image is of a
man “waving his hand derisively” (202) at the man who
enslaved him.
 Although it is easy to laugh at the outwitted Colonel and cheer
for the freed slave, there is something unsettling about the
surprise which the reader feels as the boat takes Grandison and
his family to freedom.
Grandison vs.Dick
 By concealing Grandison’s elaborate plan under the pseudoplot of “what a man will not do to please a woman”, the
narrator occupies the reader’s mind with the trivial and
comical actions of the indolent Dick Owens while merely
objectifying Grandison as simply the price that must be paid to
obtain Charity Lomax.
 From the story’s beginning, the burning question seems to be,
“Will Dick accomplish his mission and marry the fair
Charity?”, not, “Will Grandison be freed?”.
 Certainly Grandison’s background role is far from being the
protagonist, but in stories about the antebellum South is it
common for a slave to be the hero?
Grandison vs.Dick
 Through Grandison’s passive comedic façade, the reader is
able to see in the end the duality of an existence where a very
brave, intelligent, and loving man must demean himself by
posing as the very model of a subservient slave in order to
obtain freedom.
 While we see Dick treating a man’s freedom like roses on
Valentine’s Day, the more important task of Grandison is
hidden until the very end to show that although both men
accomplish their respective missions, the clown is actually the
protagonist and the protagonist is actually the clown.
 “The Passing of Grandison" debunks the myth of the faithful
slave retainer of the Old South, revealing beneath the mask of
the docile slave a crafty and determined individual much more
committed to the welfare of his family and himself than to his
supposedly beloved master.
 "The Passing of Grandison" is a literary piece that tells how
the white plantation owners looked upon their slaves and how
they saw them as too dumb to ever consider escaping. This
story shows that the negro slaves were not as dumb as the
master's thought.
 "The Passing of Grandison" is a clever satirical treatment of
the paternalist slave owner and the old faithful slave who
outwits his master to earn his and his family's freedom.
 In the conclusion of "The Passing of Grandison," did
Grandison run away on his free will? Or did Dick Owens pay
an abolitionist to set up the entire situation?
 Irony operates as the central literary device of this story. The
irony of the ending forces the reader to go back and reexamine the entire tale.
 It gives the story's theme its power. Chesnutt uses irony to
create much of the impact of its humor and theme.
http://marksrichardson.files.wordpress.com/2009/
11/slave_kidnap_post_1851_boston.jpg
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1RbUxQv4E