DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, and Selected Essays" by Charles W. Chesnutt. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Represents a 19th century American novel by an African American which is important to the study of American folklore, culture, anad literary history.

In this study of racial passing literature, Julia S. Charles highlights how mixed-race subjects invent cultural spaces for themselves—a place she terms that middle world—and how they, through various performance strategies, make meaning in the interstices between the Black and white worlds. Focusing on the construction and performance of racial identity in works by writers from the antebellum period through Reconstruction, Charles creates a new discourse around racial passing to analyze mixed-race characters' social objectives when crossing into other racialized spaces. To illustrate how this middle world and its attendant performativity still resonates in the present day, Charles connects contemporary figures, television, and film—including Rachel Dolezal and her Black-passing controversy, the FX show Atlanta, and the musical Show Boat—to a range of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary texts. Charles's work offers a nuanced approach to African American passing literature and examines how mixed-race performers articulated their sense of selfhood and communal belonging.

Experience the profound narrative of 'The Colonel's Dream' by Charles W. Chesnutt, an African-American literary masterpiece that delves into the complexities of post-Civil War Southern United States. Follow Colonel Henry French as he endeavors to transform his hometown of Clarendon, North Carolina, into a society where racial equality and social harmony prevail, challenging the deeply ingrained segregationist traditions of the past. Through richly woven melodramatic subplots, Chesnutt presents a compelling tapestry of interconnected lives, illuminating the stark realities faced by black individuals in a society marred by inequality, limited opportunities, and systemic racism. Explore the deep-rooted fears and prejudices that perpetuated the oppression of African Americans, particularly in the realm of politics, as the novel unveils a thought-provoking exploration of the human experience in the aftermath of the Civil War.