Inspired by the 1898 Wilmington Riot and the eyewitness accounts of Charles W. Chesnutt's own
family Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition captures the astonishing moment in American history
when a violent coup d'état resulted in the subversion of a free and democratic election. The
Norton Critical Edition text is based on the 1901 first edition. It is accompanied by a note on
the text Werner Sollors's insightful introduction explanatory annotations and twenty-four
photographs and illustrations. Contexts connects the novel to the historical events in
Wilmington and includes a wealth of newspaper articles editorials and biographical sketches
of the central players. The account of riot instigator Alfred Moore Waddell published just
weeks after the event is reprinted along with three rarely seen letters: W. E. B. Du Bois's
and Booker T. Washington's comments on the novel and Walter Hines Page's letter to Chesnutt.
Rounding out the historical record is a selection of 1890s sheet music a poem and newspaper
articles on the Cakewalk a popular dance of the period with roots in slavery. Criticism begins
with twelve contemporary reviews including those by Hamilton Wright Mabie Katherine Glover
William Dean Howells and Sterling A. Brown. Fifteen recent assessments focus on the novel's
characters history realism and violence. As scholarship on The Marrow of Tradition and on
Wilmington in 1898 has been especially active since the 1990s ten assessments are from this
period. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.
