Black and White

Black and White         Following the Civil War, just prior to the turn of the century, many American novelist were writing more freely of the previous slave culture. Two of these writers being Mark Twain and Charles Chesnutt. Mark Twain was a popular "white" author by this time. Charles Chesnutt, the son of free blacks, decided to pursue a dream of becoming an author in order to remove the spirit of racism. By studying these authors …

…white trying to explain the black culture. On the contrary, Chesnutt honestly portrays blacks from an inside perspective. Roxy was ashamed of the black blood in her, while Uncle Julius seemed to be a proud old man, happy to tell of his black friends and past. From the analysis these literary selections we can gain a greater understanding of racial views but, one may say that everything is not as simple as black and white