The Marrow Of Tradition is a novel is complex novel grounded on a historically accurate account of the Wilmington, North Carolina "race riot" of 1898. It was written by African-American writer Charles Waddell Chesnutt.In this book, the writer narrates a fictional story of the white supremacist movement when a number of African Americans were killed and thousands of them more from their homes.The story revolves around two prominent families, the Carterets and the Millers. Major Philip Carteret, the editor of The Morning Chronicle newspaper, has emerged as the unblemished white supremacist who, along with General Belmont and Captain George McBain, seeks to overthrow "Negro supremacy", triggering the events that culminate in a deadly "revolution". Dr. William Miller, after his medical education in North, has returned home to "his people", founding a local Black hospital in Wellington. Dr. Miller's wife, Janet, is Major Carteret's wife, Olivia's racially mixed half-sister. Not surprisingly, Olivia Merkel Carteret struggles to suppress the truth of her father's scandalous second marriage to her black servant and Janet Miller's mother, Julia Brown.
Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his short stories and novels. He was born on June 20, 1858 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Andrew Chesnutt and Ann Maria. His grandfather was a white slave. Though Chesnutt was identified as African American he was considered as white for seven to eight years. But by one drop rule adopted in 1920s, he was classified legally black due some African ancestry. His father had a grocery store that failed because of his father's poor business practices and the struggling economy due to the Civil War. Oscar Micheaux, an African-American director and producer made two silent films in 1926 and 1927 based on Chesnutt's books. Chesnutt married Susan Perry in 1878 and moved to New York. He has four daughters among which Helen Maria Chesnutt wrote biography of her father. Chesnutts moved to Cleveland to escape poverty of the South, and to pursue a literary career. Many of his books were republished and got recognition. He participated in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and wrote articles supporting education as well as legal challenges to discriminatory laws. He was considered as one of the most influential African American fiction writer during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
