So in your response to the first question, you mentioned that you would call him a quiet influencer, right? And so obviously this kind of ties into my second question about, well, why isn't he well known? And I'm assuming that quietness that you mentioned has some impact, but can you talk a little bit about why we don't really hear that much about him in comparison to other authors of that time?

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's anybody's guess because I tend to write about lesser known authors who I think should be better known.

So, for instance, Sutton E. Griggs is another novelist from the period.

He was writing primarily in Texas and Tennessee and Virginia, also around issues of segregation and racism.

Black rights, political rights, primarily like Chestnut, writing about voting rights and marriage and very similar issues.

And no one reads Sutton Griggs.

I mean, in that respect, it's kind of understandable that no one's heard of Sutton Griggs because he was really a self-published author.

So if you were to advise someone who wants to read him, say they read your book and then they want to read more of his works or start his words, where would you suggest they start first?

Yeah.

Yeah, so anyway, it's some kind of military academy.

And then as now, you have to have a recommendation from a senator or a congressman or something like that from your constituency.

And Robert Harris arranges to have the letter, the letter of recommendation from Waddell, Alfred Waddell, and who is an important political figure at the time.

And I found this letter at the Schomburg Library, and that's how he's able to take the exam.

And he takes the exam, and though he does very well on the exam, one of the examiners writes to Robert Harris and says, even though Charles Chestnut did the best on the exam, we're recommending that he not be given a spot in this school, but instead should become a school teacher so that he can better serve his people, is the gist of it, is the gist of this letter.

And this reveals so much about Chestnut's life.

So if you were to advise someone who wants to read him, say they read your book and then they want to read more of his works or start his words, where would you suggest they start first?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So anyway, it's some kind of military academy.

And then as now, you have to have a recommendation from a senator or a congressman or something like that from your constituency.

And Robert Harris arranges to have the letter the letter of recommendation from Waddell, Alfred Waddell, who is an important political figure at the time.

And I found this letter at the Schomburg Library, and that's how he's able to take the exam.

and he takes the exam, and though he does very well on the exam, one of the examiners writes to Robert Harris and says, even though Charles Chestnut did the best on the exam, we're recommending that he not be given a spot in this school, but instead should become a school teacher so that he can better serve his people, is the gist of it, is the gist of this letter.

So if you were to advise someone who wants to read him, say they read your book and then they want to read more of his words or start his words, where would you suggest they start first?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So anyway, it's some kind of military academy.

And then as now, you have to have a recommendation from a senator or a congressman or something like that from your constituency.

And Robert Harris arranges to have the letter the letter of recommendation from Waddell, Alfred Waddell, who is an important political figure at the time.

And I found this letter at the Schomburg Library, and that's how he's able to take the exam.

And he takes the exam, and though he does very well on the exam, one of the examiners writes to Robert Harris and says, even though Charles Chestnut did the best on the exam, we're recommending that he not be given a spot in this school, but instead should become a school teacher so that he can better serve his people, is the gist of it, is the gist of this letter.

So if you were to advise someone who wants to read him, say they read your book and then they want to read more of his words or start his words, where would you suggest they start first?

So in your response to the first question, you mentioned that you would call him a quiet influencer, right? And so obviously this kind of ties into my second question about, well, why isn't he well known? And I'm assuming that quietness that you mentioned has some impact, but can you talk a little bit about why we don't really hear that much about him in comparison to other authors of that time?

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's anybody's guess because I tend to write about lesser known authors who I think should be better known.

So, for instance, Sutton E. Griggs is another novelist from the period.

He was writing primarily in Texas and Tennessee and Virginia, also around issues of segregation and racism.

Black rights, political rights, primarily like Chestnut, writing about voting rights and marriage and very similar issues.

And no one reads Sutton Griggs.

I mean, in that respect, it's kind of understandable that no one's heard of Sutton Griggs because he was really a self-published author.

So if you were to advise someone who wants to read him, say they read your book and then they want to read more of his words or start his words, where would you suggest they start first?

Why him?

Wow, you put Mary Church Terrell above Chestnut.

That's interesting to me.

Charles Chestnut, as the kind of reputation goes, was the first professional African-American writer.

And by professional, I mean he made his living by his pen.

And that seems significant for me as someone who studies literature.

He was the first African-American to have his fiction published in such venerated sources as the Atlantic Monthly, which in the 1890s was the literary journal to get published in if you were a writer.

I mean, what was the genesis of your personal interest in Charles Chestnut?