(St. Martin’s Press, February 2025) explores one of the first authors to write for Black and white readers.
Born in Ohio in 1858 to parents who were considered “mixed race,” Chesnutt spent his early life in post-bellum rural North Carolina, becoming a teacher during Reconstruction. Though light-skinned, says Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English Chakkalakal, Chesnutt grew up as a member of the post-slavery Southern Black community, and the issue of racial divisions informed much of his writing.
As a writer, critic, and speaker, Chesnutt transformed the publishing world by crossing racial barriers that divided American literature by including both Black and white characters in his writing.
“In the first biography of Chesnutt in a generation, [Chakkalakal] provides a sophisticated analysis of Chesnutt’s short stories, … essays, letters and novels, while contextualizing their creation within Chesnutt’s life,” writes NYT’s Kerri Greenidge.
“Chakkalakal asks the reader to see the ‘First Negro Novelist’ as he saw himself: a writer and student of American letters at a time when the literary marketplace struggled to take him seriously.”
According to Greenidge, “Tess Chakkalakal’s ‘A Matter of Complexion’ makes an urgent case for the importance of Black artistry during racially reactive and violent times.” .
This semester Chakkalakal is teaching Black Biography (AFR 1300/ENGL 1300) and American Literature II (AFR 2506/ENGL 2506).
