In the August 1887 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, a short story appeared written by African-American author from Cleveland, Ohio. Charles W. Chesnutt’s story “The Goophered Grapevine” was just one of the many innovative literary contributions from novels to poems to essays that Chesnutt would produce during his long career. The piece for the Atlantic Monthly was the first short story of Chesnutt’s to be published by a major literary magazine. Throughout the remainder of his career, Chesnutt developed complex and interesting African-American characters along with stories that explored the issues of race in America. The NAACP awarded Charles Chesnutt the Spingarn Award in 1928.
