Charles Waddell Chesnutt is an important, but not well recognized, American Author because he the main inventor of Afro-American fiction. Chesnutt was an African-American lawyer and author in the 19th century. He mostly wrote short stories that were collected in in his two most famous books, The Conjure Woman and The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line. The Conjure Woman is a collection of Stories where slaves mainly escape to the north by using the powers of voodoo. The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line is a collection of stories that explored slave behavior and culture. Chesnutt and his works are important because Chesnutt was the first recognized black American author, he used slave diction and culture, and he wrote about social problems from the different races.

Chesnutt was the first recognized African-American author. His short story “The Gophered Grapevine” was …show more content…
Also, their culture was not well recognized by authors and was often misused or not included. Chesnutt included lines in his book like, “I ain’ narvous; but dat saw, a-cuttin’ en grindin’ thoo dat stick er timber, en moanin’, en groanin’…”(Chesnutt, The Conjure Woman, “Po’ Sandy”). Lines like this helped characterize voices better by showing how their accents made them sound. Today there are lines like this in a lot of books including the Harry Potter series, “A wizard, o' course … an' a thumpin' good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). Chesnutt was also one of the best authors to delve into the culture of slaves. “A small card, resembling a currycomb in construction, and used by negroes in the rural districts instead of a comb” (Chessnut, The Conjure Woman, “The Gophered Grapvine”). Chessnut used his books to bring black culture and diction into the