The Marrow of Tradition - Couverture souple

Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) was an 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. The legacy of slavery and interracial relations had resulted in many free people of color who had attained education before the war, as well as slaves and freedmen of mixed race. Two of his books were adapted as silent films in 1926 and 1927 by the director and producer Oscar Micheaux. Chesnutt also established what became a highly successful legal stenography business, which provided his main income.

The Marrow of Tradition (1901) is a historical novel by the African American author Charles Chesnutt, set at the time and portraying a fictional account of the Wilmington Race Riot in North Carolina in 1898. Set in the fictional town of Wellington, The Marrow of Tradition features several interweaving plots that encompass the poles of the racially segregated society of the American South at the turn of the century.