Deconstructing Whiteness: Charles W. Chesnutt’s Political Essays

Early Speeches and Moral Education. "What Is a White Man?" first appeared in 1889 in the New York Independent and was Charles Waddell Chesnutt’s first essay to be published in a major newspaper. Before this publication, Chesnutt had delivered a handful of speeches and published a couple of short pieces. In North Carolina, he delivered three notable speeches to the Normal Literary Society. His first speech summarized essential etiquette rules, including appropriate dress, table manners, and the proper way to conduct conversation. The second speech outlined what might be gained by joining a literary society, emphasizing recreation, practical business knowledge, and public speaking and debating skills. His third speech celebrated the archetype of the self-made man, offering prominent historical figures Frederick Douglass and Horace Greeley as primary examples.

All three of these initial speeches were delivered to African-American groups, revealing Chesnutt’s early conviction that social advancement for African Americans required what he termed in another address character education. A fourth speech delivered in Fayetteville dared to raise political issues directly, noting that African Americans "suffered many unjust discriminations" (Chesnutt, Essays 29). However, Chesnutt’s primary concern in these early years was not merely pointing out external injustices, but exploring what African Americans could actively do to win the respect of white citizens and reduce the daily humiliations of racial prejudice. He called for African Americans to pursue book learning, asserting that "we must know how to read and understand the laws" and "we must also be educated in character". For Chesnutt, this meant the "colored man" must "learn to respect himself," which included being punctual, wearing clean clothes, working hard, and living economically (Essays 30).

Transition to Direct Political Critique. Chesnutt remained deeply committed throughout his life to the importance of self-respect, manners, and formal education. Within a few years, however, Chesnutt’s public speeches and written essays shifted noticeably from self-improvement to direct political advocacy. In an unpublished essay titled "An Inside View of the Negro Question," Chesnutt set himself the task of answering a question recently posed in a popular magazine: "Is the Negro contented and prospering?" (Essays 57). His answer was a resounding no. Chesnutt observed that basic civil rights were "grudgingsly conceded, and often require the aid of special legislation to enforce them" (Essays 30). He identified a "powerful faction" actively working to perpetuate a destructive "system of caste" that harmed the nation's broader social fabric.

In "An Inside View of the Negro Question," Chesnutt addressed white Americans directly, making it unmistakably clear in an itemized list that African Americans wanted "an equal share in all public benefits, and an equal right to share in the exercise of every public function" (Essays 59) and that they demanded equality immediately. Chesnutt explained that African Americans were not seeking forced admission to private white society. At the same time, he scoffed at the prevailing white supremacist claim that there existed a deep, natural antipathy among whites toward intimate contact with African Americans. He pointed out that intimacy across the color line was "freely condoned" during slavery and was only now being opposed by white supremacists invoking fictitious "laws of nature" (Essays 59). Scathingly, Chesnutt noted that if a natural disgust truly existed among whites for contact with African Americans, then "there is surely no ground for this fear that equal rights for the Negro means the pollution of the pure Caucasian stream which courses through the veins of Southern white people" (Essays 59).

Deconstructing Racial Categorization in "What Is a White Man?". Chesnutt took up these identical legal and social contradictions in his landmark 1889 publication, "What Is a White Man?". He began the essay by suggesting that if the self-proclaimed "all-pervading, all-conquering Anglo-Saxon race" must hold "exclusive control and direction of the government," then the American nation must explicitly define who belongs to this innately superior race and who does not (Essays 68). Chesnutt immediately observed that no one actually believed political power should be restricted exclusively to Anglo-Saxons. By the end of the 19th century, Celts, Gauls, Slavs, and Jews were all permitted to vote and hold political office, though that had not always been historical reality. Irish immigrants, for example, were frequently depicted as nonwhites before the American Civil War and denied fundamental civil rights on the basis of their ethnicity. Thus, early in the essay, Chesnutt effectively challenged whiteness as a stable or biological category by reminding readers that the legal definition of whiteness had been modified repeatedly throughout history.

State Statutes and the Absurdity of Fractional Blood. Following this provocative introduction, Chesnutt proceeded to review current legal definitions of racial identity as codified in various state statutes. He identified several general statutory patterns:

· In most states, an individual who was "fifteenth-sixteenth white" was legally classified as white.

· Conversely, an individual who was "three-fourths white" was legally classified as black.

While Chesnutt presented this statutory survey with a straight face, his essay exposed the fundamental farce of trying to define human race by mathematical fractions of blood. In Ohio, he observed, the law historically defined a person as white if they possessed a "preponderance of white blood"; however, in 1887, the state went further and repealed all laws defining race entirely. In South Carolina, a fractional legal definition existed, but the law also granted judicial license to determine the contested race of an individual by examining their physical appearance, social reputation, and interpersonal relationships.

Literary Intertextuality: The House Behind the Cedars. A few years later, in his novel The House Behind the Cedars, Chesnutt quoted directly from South Carolina law in a dramatic exchange where a young mulatto boy insists to a white lawyer that he is white, holding out his arm as physical evidence. The lawyer attempts to explain the prevailing one-drop rule to the boy, stating, "One drop of black blood makes the whole man black". The boy retorts, "Why shouldn't it be the other way, if the white blood is so much superior?". The lawyer's candid answer—"Because it is more convenient as it is—and more profitable"—acknowledges openly that racial categories are artificial legal constructs designed historically to justify economic exploitation and slavery (The House Behind the Cedars 379–380). The lawyer further acknowledges that legal consensus regarding the color line did not exist across the United States, pointing out that under specific nuances of South Carolina law, the boy "need not be black" (The House Behind the Cedars 379–380).

Legal Status, Civil Rights, and Anti-Miscegenation Laws. Before the Civil War, the color line strictly regulated an individual's civil and legal status. As the lawyer in The House Behind the Cedars explains, an enslaved or free black person "cannot travel without your papers; you cannot secure accommodations at an inn; you could not vote, if you were of age; you cannot be out after nine o'clock without a permit. If a white man struck you, you could not return the blow, and you could not testify against him in a court of justice" (The House Behind the Cedars 379). Following the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and Fifteenth Amendment, discriminatory "black laws" shifted primarily toward regulating social arrangements, such as marriage, housing, and public education.

Anti-Miscegenation Laws and the Presumption of Illegitimacy. Anti-miscegenation marriage laws particularly troubled Chesnutt in "What Is a White Man?" because, by outlawing interracial marriage, they led the public to assume that light-skinned African Americans were inherently the "offspring of a union not sanctioned by law" (Essays 73). Because Chesnutt was light-skinned and the child of legally married mixed-race parents, he was eager to dismantle this stereotype. He explained that this "presumption of illegitimacy" was no longer factually appropriate, as many African Americans possessed mixed heritage and there were numerous children born to legally married, light-skinned African-American parents (Essays 73).

Lifetime Activism and Legacy. Chesnutt went on to write more than 77 speeches and political essays over his career, maintaining a lifelong struggle against color line legislation. In 1908, he published an essay analyzing various U.S. Supreme Court decisions that failed to overturn racial segregation, including a Kentucky statute that banned interracial education. In 1913, he successfully helped persuade the Mayor of Cleveland to oppose a proposed state bill prohibiting interracial marriage in Ohio.

For Discussion or Writing. The following analytical prompts provide a framework for examining Chesnutt’s legal commentary and essayistic strategies:
1st point: Remembering that Chesnutt studied law and passed the Ohio bar exam with the highest score in his group, describe Chesnutt’s attitude toward the various state laws he reviews and toward laws in general. Does he seem hopeful that federal laws and the Supreme Court will provide equality for all?

2nd point: Create a list that paraphrases the state laws on race that Chesnutt discusses, and write a summary of how they differ from each other.
3rd point: Considering that "What Is a White Man?" is Chesnutt’s first overtly political essay and his first essay to appear in a newspaper read primarily by whites, describe his rhetorical tone and identify distinct moments where shifts in tone occur. Pay attention to the challenges he faced in addressing a white audience, bearing in mind that his own racial identity was likely unknown to most readers of the article.