Charles W. Chesnutt to John Patterson Green, 7 October 1897
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CHAS. W. CHESNUTT,
1024 SOCIETY FOR SAVINGS BLDG.
Cleveland, O. December 7th, 1897
Hon.John P.Green,
Washington, D.C.
My dear John:-
I received your letter of several days ago and was very glad to hear from you. Sorry to hear that Mrs. Green is not as well as she might be, but have no doubt that she will become acclimated in due time.
I see that your friend Mr. Bruce1 got the persimmon—I presume because he had the longest pole, or the strongest pull. I have no doubt that he owes something to you in that connection, and I hope that he will show himself properly appreciative of your efforts in his behalf.2 I met H.C.Smith3 on the street the other day. He said that the appointment was the worst one from the point of practical politics that could possibly have been made. He went on to say that the methods by which Bruce had secured his appointment and by which you had secured yours were altogether wrong— I violate no confidence in saying this because it was all repeated in the issue of his paper the next day.4 I smiled and said that your methods and Mr. Bruce's had been successful, and if they had enabled you to get what you wanted I really did not see how they could have been improved upon "practically." Poor Smith is neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, and from present indications, he will ere long have difficulty in making any number of people believe that he is. The Negro Protective Party5 I understand polled about 400 votes out of 40,000; I should think that would discourage even Smith.6
We miss you and Mrs. Green from our social gatherings, but we trust you are enjoying yourself. I see that you are getting to the meat of "Sambo"; you will find it interesting, and easy French.7 I see your son William around almost everywhere.
Mrs. Chesnutt8 joins me in regards to yourself and Mrs. Green. We hope to see you occasionally and hear from you often. Wishing you both a Merry Christmas, I remain,
Sincerely yours, Chas. W. Chesnutt.Correspondent: John Patterson Green (1845-1940) was Chesnutt's cousin and an attorney, active Republican, and the first Black to be elected Cleveland's justice of the peace (1873–1882). He served in the Ohio House of Representatives (1881–1883; 1889–1891), the Senate (1891–1893), and in Washington D.C. as U.S. Postage Stamp Agent (1897–1906). Green was also the author of Recollections of the Inhabitants, Localities, Superstitions and Kuklux Outrages of the Carolinas (1880).
1. Blanche Kelso Bruce (1841–1898) was a Black politician, U.S. Senator, landowner, editor, and educator. Born into slavery in Virginia, he moved to Kansas at the start of the Civil War and attended Oberlin College. After the War, he started a school for Black children in Missouri, and a few years later bought several thousand acres in Mississippi. He won election to county positions in Mississippi, and in 1875 became the second Black elected to the U.S. Congress, and the first elected to a full term (1875-1881). He was active in the Republican National Party and was appointed Register of the U.S. Treasury (1881-1885, 1897-98). Bruce's wife, Josephine Beall Willson Bruce (1853–1923) was an activist in her own right and became the first Black teacher in Cleveland's public school system and later at the Tuskegee Institute. Their son was Roscoe Conklin Bruce (1879–1950). [back]
2. Chesnutt is referring to Blanche K. Bruce's appointment to Register of the U.S. Treasury in 1897 by President McKinley. [back]
3. Harry C. Smith (1863–1941) was a Black journalist, editor, and politician. Born in West Virginia, his family moved to Cleveland after the Civil War. While attending Cleveland's Central High School, he wrote for several newspapers. In 1883, along with three others, he founded the Cleveland Gazette, a weekly newspaper, and within three years became the sole proprietor. He edited the newspaper until his death. His political career included three terms in the Ohio General Assembly (1893–99). He introduced and played a major role in the passage of the Ohio Civil Rights Law (1894) and an anti-lynching law, the Smith Act (1896). He also sought other offices: Ohio Secretary of State (1920) and Governor (1926 and 1928). [back]
4. When Republican William McKinley (1843–1901) became president, he appointed Green as U.S. Postage Stamp Agent (a newly created position) and reappointed Bruce as Register to the Treasury. The latter appointment began December 3, 1897; Smith wrote an editorial criticizing the appointments in his Cleveland Gazette on December 4, 1897. [back]
5. Formed shortly before state elections in Ohio in 1897, the Negro Protective Party decried the paltry efforts of the Republican party on behalf of Blacks and sought to offer an alternative. The new party offered a full slate of Black candidates for state and county offices, including governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. [back]
6. Both Green and Bruce campaigned in Ohio for the Republican ticket and against the Negro Protective Party. Smith mocked the efforts of Green and Bruce and claimed that the incumbent Republican governor won with a much smaller margin because of the challenge mounted by the Negro Protective Party (see "Sarcasm Galore. The Negro Protective Party and Messrs. Bruce, Lynch and Green's Part in the Recent Contest," Cleveland Gazette [November 13, 1897]: 1; and "The official count shows," Cleveland Gazette [November 20, 1897]: 2). [back]
7. This is likely a reference to the 1862 novel Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880). Chesnutt was familiar with this historical novel and later watched an Italian film adaptation (see his 1916 speech "The Negro in Books," Essays and Speeches, 431). Both Chesnutt and John Patterson Green (1845–1940) read and spoke French with some fluency; the misquoted title may have been an in-joke. [back]
8. Susan Perry Chesnutt (1861–1940) was from a well-established Black family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and worked as a teacher at Fayetteville's Howard School before marrying Chesnutt. They were married from 1878 until his death in 1932 and had four children: Ethel, Helen, Edwin, and Dorothy. Susan led an active life in Cleveland. [back]
