Charles Waddell Chestnutt

The Conjure Woman is the title of an 1899 collection of seven stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, an important African American writer from the post-Civil War South; it was his first book. The stories deal with the racial issues facing the South after the war.

Chesnutt's stories were more complex than those of many of his contemporaries. He wrote about characters dealing with difficult issues of mixed race, "passing," illegitimacy, racial identities, and social place throughout his career. The issues were especially pressing during the social volatilit...