Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2022 UCW 11 EVENT Charles W. Chesnutt an innovator by DR. SHANESSA FENNER LOCAL BLACK HISTORY Before Fort Bragg embodied much of the identity of Fayetteville, the city grew and established itself for another purpose. Fayetteville was a vital inland city involved in trade because it had a direct route on the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. e Fayetteville Area Transpor- tation and Local History Museum details the history of Fayetteville during this time through their Cape Fear River gallery. e exhibit has long been dis- played on the museum's first floor, but it has gained a new addition. In celebration of Black History Month, the museum has put up new placards detailing the histories of African Americans on the Cape Fear River. "Finally, we have one of our Black History exhibits that remain up for over a year become part of a semi-permanent space," said Heidi Bleazey, historic properties super- visor. "e river is why Fayetteville is here, and having the acknowl- edgment of the back-breaking, life-ending, life-sustaining things that African Americans did to help build Fayetteville as a travel and trade community (is important)." Bleazey, Catherine Linton, mu- seum specialist, and Emma Free- man, marketing and social media coordinator, worked on the exhibit, perusing census records and old newspapers. eir efforts were fruitful in the form of a new artifact. Included in the exhibit is an illustration from a June 17, 1865 edition of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. e drawing shows an enslaved family escaping down the Cape Fear River. Behind them is another boat. e illustration was drawn by a Union war correspondent. "is is an amazing artifact be- cause it represents so much of what we don't know. ere's a second boat behind the first. Are they pur- suing them? Is that another family? It's just subject to a lot of feeling," said Bleazey. "We always look to the primary sources," said Linton. "at's an article from 1865; that story came right from the source that is physi- cally on display." In addition to the newspaper, the placards detail the lives of African American river pilots such as Daniel Buxton. rough some research, Buxton's life and person have taken clearer form. Buxton piloted the riverboat A.P. Hunt for over 60 years. He was a leader in the Fayetteville community, a founding member of St. Joseph's Episcopal Church. His reputation as a riverboat pilot was excellent, never having an accident on the river throughout his career, an almost unheard-of feat. Buxton is said to be buried at what was once called Miles Branch Cemetery, a Black cemetery, now known as Elmwood Cemetery. His legend lives on in the hearts of the researchers at the museum. e women have searched for his head- stone but have yet to find it. "ere's a piece of Daniel that is a little elusive to us," said Bleazey. "He's the nostalgic poster child of a river pilot." As research has continued, more stories and names of the river workers have begun to pop out. Several of their names appear on the placards, a tribute to who they were and where they worked and lived. "We know so few, that to be able to put a name to these people is important … And I felt like if all I know is that what the census said, then by gosh I'm excited about that and that should be there because there are so many we don't know," said Bleazey. African Americans on Cape Fear River by ALYSON HANSEN DR. SHANESSA FENNER, Prin- cipal, WT Brown Elementary School. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. ALYSON HANSEN, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 20, 1858. Even though he identified as Black, he could pass as white but chose not to do so. His father, Andrew Jackson Chesnutt, was the son of a white slave owner and his Black mistress. His mother, Anne Maria Sampson, was the daughter of a free biracial couple from Fayetteville. Her parents were freed slaves who left North Carolina for Ohio to be with relatives before the Civil War and moved back to North Carolina after the Civil War and the resulting emancipation. Chesnutt attended the Howard School. He was a teacher in Char- lotte and moved back to Fayetteville to teach. Upon his return, Chesnutt became first the assistant principal and then eventually the principal of the Fayetteville State Normal School for Negroes. At the age of 20, he met and married his wife, Susan Perry, a teacher. ey had four children, and one of the daughters, Helen Maria Chesnutt, became a noted classicist and published a biography of her father. e couple was increasingly con- cerned about racial prejudice, pov- erty and limited job opportunities in the South, so they moved to New York and later to Cleveland. While earning a law degree, Chesnutt worked as a stenographer for the Nickel Plate Railroad Company. He established a lucrative court reporting business that made him financially prosper- ous. Chesnutt also began writing stories during this time. He was the first African American to have his short story, "e Goophered Grapevine," published by a national magazine, e Atlantic Monthly. He was one of the most prominent African American novelists who produced profound works of fiction that exemplified racial prejudice in the 19th and 20th centuries. His first short story, "Uncle Peter's House," was featured in the Cleveland News and Herald in 1885. His literature told stories of the post-Civil War South. His first book, "e Conjure Woman," published in 1899, is a collection of seven short stories set in Fayetteville and examines pre and post-Civil War race relations. Between 1885 and 1905, Chesnutt published more than 50 short stories, essays, articles, books, lectures and novels. He also published a biography of the anti- slavery leader Frederick Douglass. Two of his books were adapted as silent films, and several of his works have been published posthumously. Chesnutt worked with Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois and became one of the early 20th century's most prominent activists and commentators. He served on the General Committee of the newly founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also toured on the na- tional lecture circuit in the northern states. Fayetteville State University's library, e Charles Waddell Ches- nutt Library, is named in his honor. e library contains a collection of artifacts ranging from photos, legal records and valuable information. e National Association awarded Chesnutt the Spingarn Medal for the Advancement of Colored People for his literary achievements and for the most distinguished service of any Black person that year who acted to advance the cause of Blacks in America. He was awarded an honor- ary LL.D., a doctorate-level law de- gree, from Wilberforce University. In 2008, the United States Postal Service honored him with the 31st stamp in the Black Heritage Series. Charles Chesnutt died in Cleve- land, Ohio, on November 15, 1932, at 74. William L. Andrews wrote of Chesnutt, "Today Chesnutt is rec- ognized as a major innovator in the tradition of Afro-American fiction, an important contributor to the dero- manticizing trend in post-Civil War southern literature and a singular voice among turn-of-the-century realists who treated the color line in American life." Charles W. Chesnutt Placard on display in the Cape Fear River Gallery on the first f loor of the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum. Framed within the placard is a newspaper from 1865 depicting African Americans using the Cape Fear River as a way to escape. (Photo by Alyson Hansen.)