Charles W. Chesnutt Box Set: The Conjure Woman & Frederick Douglass

Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) is considered the first important Black American novelist. The Conjure Woman is a collection of seven stories that began appearing in magazines in 1887 and were first published together in 1899. The narrator of The Conjure Woman is a White man from the North living in the South who passes along the stories told to him by the ex-slave Julius McAdoo. The narratives provide a realistic picture of the pre-Civil War South, including descriptions of brutish slave owners. Conjuration, the magic effected by hoodoo practitioners, helps slaves to survive and overcome various difficulties. Chesnutt’s biography of the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass was originally published in 1899. It deals with Douglass' early life as a slave, his escape from Maryland to New York, his intellectual achievements, and the power and charisma of his public speaking.

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