How do Charles Chesnutt’s short story “The Wife of his Youth,” Alice Dunbar Nelson’s short story “The Stones of the Village,” and James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man dramatize the condition of “double-consciousness,” which W.E.B. Du Bois describes as the central predicament of African Americans at the turn of the century? What strategies do the protagonists of each piece use for understanding or managing the conflicting aspects of their identities? Compare each author’s position on how African Americans ought to consider their history and their race in efforts to achieve social, political, or economic empowerment. Include why people decided to pass as white or black, and some people who did.
1500 Words minimum ( not including the Works Cited). Remember to follow MLA format. Use Times New Roman font, double-space, number your pages, and provide a Works Cited page. Listed in the Works Cited should be the primary source(s) and a minimum of four secondary sources (an article, book, or other materials that you have found in your research; at least two must be peer-reviewed). Whatever is listed in the Works Cited should also be cited parenthetically in the body of your essay.
