In 1898, white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina violently overthrew a legitimately elected government, and the newspapers called it a race riot started by the Black community. Charles Chesnutt, who knew the truth from the people who lived it, answered with this novel.
Two families, one Black and one white, secretly bound by blood, converge on the day the mob takes the town. It is historical fiction as correction of the record, decades ahead of its time, and one of the essential American novels.
