查尔斯·切斯纳特

查尔斯·切斯纳特（Charles W. Chesnutt；1858年6月20日—1932年11月15日），美国作家。

切斯纳特生于俄亥俄州克利夫兰。南北战争后随父母迁入北卡罗来纳。曾就读于北卡罗来纳州费耶特维尔师范学校，1881年任该校校长。1884年在纽约当记者，并学习法律。1887年在俄亥俄州任律师，进行业余创作。擅长根据民间传说创作短篇小说。1885年—1905年共出版五十多部短篇小说、故事和杂文，三部长篇小说。作品着重揭露美国的种族偏见，抗议社会的不公正。曾获斯平加恩奖章。主要作品有《巫妇》《雪松那边的房子》《传统配偶》《他青年时期的妻子》《弗雷德利克·道格拉斯传》《皱褶的葡萄藤》等。

Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an African-American author, essayist, political activist, and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. Two of his books were adapted as silent films in 1926 and 1927 by the African-American director and producer Oscar Micheaux. Following the Civil Rights Movement during the 20th century, interest in the works of Chesnutt was revived. Several of his books were published in new editions, and he received formal recognition. A commemorative stamp was printed in 2008.

During the early 20th century in Cleveland, Ohio, Chesnutt established what became a highly successful court reporting business, which provided his main income. He became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, writing articles supporting education as well as legal challenges to discriminatory laws.

Early life

Chesnutt was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Andrew Jackson Chesnutt and Ann Maria (née Sampson) Chesnutt, both "free persons of color" from Fayetteville, North Carolina. His paternal grandfather was known to be a white slaveholder. He considered himself to be an African-American, acknowledging that he was additionally "seven-eighths" White. Given his appearance and background, Chesnutt could "pass" as a white man, and could have been legally permitted to claim said status, but never chose to do so. By the 1920s, the one drop rule was formally codified into law in many Southern states, officially classifying him as a "Negro" on account of his known ancestry.

After the end of the Civil War and resulting emancipation, in 1867, the Chesnutt family returned to Fayetteville; Charles was nine years old. His parents ran a grocery store, in which Chesnutt worked part-time, but it failed because of his father's poor business practices and the struggling economy of the postwar South. In his early adolescence, Chesnutt was left to take care of his mother and siblings at home, due to his mother's failing health and eventual death. During this time, he published his first story in a small newspaper.

In addition to his responsibilities at home, Chesnutt attended school in Fayetteville called the Howard School, and by the age of 14, he had become a pupil-teacher there due to financial needs. This school was one of many founded for black students by the Freedmen's Bureau during the Reconstruction era. As a teacher, Chesnutt was extended many new job offers, but difficulties of the time period, such as funding and methodological disagreements, caused many of them to be withdrawn.

Throughout the remainder of his youth, Chesnutt continued to study and teach. According to Fayetteville historian Bruce Daws, Chesnutt was also a teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1873 to 1876, and also taught in schools near Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1877, he was promoted to assistant principal of the normal school in Fayetteville, one of a number of historically black colleges established for the training of black teachers. By 1880, he became the school's principal and Chief Executive Officer upon the death of the former principal, Robert Harris. After becoming principal, Chesnutt inspired many remarkable qualities in his students. He later resigned from his position in 1883, when he moved to New York City to pursue a writing career.