Chesnutt, Charles W.

Chesnutt, Charles W. (Waddell) (1858–1932) lawyer, writer; born in Cleveland, Ohio. Son of North Carolina-born free blacks, he returned to his parents' native state after the Civil War to attend a teacher's training college in Fayetteville; he stayed on to teach there and become its principal (1872–83). Lack of opportunity to advance led him to go to New York City where he worked as a journalist while studying law. He moved back to Cleveland in 1887 and eventually established a successful law practice. He began writing fiction about 1887; in 1889 he published his first collection of short stories, The Conjure Woman, and in 1890 his first novel, Behind the Cedars. Along with his critical essays on other African-American writers, his works of fiction—some of which dealt realistically with the effects of racial discrimination on American society—gained him the reputation of being the first serious African-American writer. His later years were marked by ill health.