Charles_Chestnutt

Charles Chestnutt “Without struggle, there is no progress”. In 1899, Charles Chesnutt was commissioned by Small Maynard and Company to write a biography of Frederick Douglass to be included in the famous Beacon Series. The Beacon Biographies contained volumes on eminent Americans such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Chesnutt was the first African American invited to write for this series and Frederick Douglass was the first African American biography included. Chesnutt and Douglass were men who played important roles in the history of African-Americans and the history of our country. Although Chesnutt was not an eminent American in the Beacon Series, he could have qualified for inclusion because of his pioneering role in American fiction and his consistent efforts to agitate the American conscience regarding discrimination against blacks. In fact, during the year 1899, he wrote Frederick Douglass, Chesnutt published Two works with Houghton Mifflin, Boston: The Conjure Woman and The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories. The two books were the first works by an African American to be published by a major publishing house. As a result of these Publications, Chesnutt recognized in American literary history as the first African American author to receive high critical acclaim. These works were Followed by the novels: One House Behind The douglass, chesnutt, american, african, frederick, covey, slavery, history, first, americans, abolitionist, works, video, two, struggle, rights, publication, new, life, freedom, civil, biography, written, tried, three, stop, sources, slave, series, section, reader, railroad, published, one, notes