Read this for an English class about Southern American literature. Chesnutt expertly weaves in his own experience as a Black man in the South to cover the delicate topic of the Wilmington insurrection just two years after the incident occurred. This book was quite uncomfortable to read at times, which was extremely intentional on the author's part. It was a vile and stark truth to the realities of the way Black Americans continued to be treated after the the end of the Civil War. This book sparks a lot of good discussion on the topics discussed, and how unfortunately we see a lot of these systemic issues still at large today.