Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born in Cleveland on June 30, 1858 and died November 15, 1932. He has been called "The pioneer of the color line" and was an author, crusader for racial and social justice, humanitarian, and forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance, a black literary movement from World War I through the mid-1930s. With the publication of The Conjure Woman in 1899, he emerged as the first person of acknowledged African descent to be published by an established publisher of the day. During his diverse career, Chesnutt operated a successful court reporting business, passed the Ohio Bar in 1887 with the highest score, championed the cause of equal rights for all people without regard to caste or color, and published six books: The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, Frederick Douglas, The House Behind the Cedars, The Marrow of Tradition, and The Colonel's Dream.
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