Dr. Tess Chakkalakal will discuss Charles Chestnutt’s Marrow of Tradition and its relationship to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Explore here for more information about Chestnutt.

In 1901, Houghton Mifflin & Co., the premiere literary press in the country, released Charles W. Chesnutt’s fourth book; it was predicted to be a best seller. The press’s high hopes and faith in the novel were made plain on the dust jacket they used to advertise the first edition: in The Marrow of Tradition Mr. Chesnutt has far outstripped his earlier successes. He has written a Southern story of the present that will recall at many points “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” so great is its dramatic intensity and so strong its appeal to popular sympathies.”