in the December 1924 and January 1925 issues of
THECRISIS.
Written in the style of his famous dialect stories
and earlier published collections, the “Marked Tree”
is about a tree cursed by an indignant and wronged
enslaved woman on the Spencer plantation. Phillis
sees her son, who is born on the same day as the
master’s own son, sold years later to finance the wed-
ding of the white heir. She curses the tree under
which all Spencers have been baptized and married.
When the narrator decides to purchase the property,
he learns the awful history of the tree known as the
Upas, or Tree of Death. In the final scene, a very dis-
tant cousin of the Spencers casually disregards the
legends of death and destruction as figments of the
imaginations of the foolish African Americans asso-
ciated with the estate. Moments later, the disbeliev-
ing man, who sits on the stump of the tree, is killed
by a rattlesnake. The narrator, who is dispatched to
buy a home for his Ohio cousin, is undeterred and
proceeds with his plans to purchase the property.
The story reflects Chesnutt’s unwavering gift
for crafting vivid tales of the encounters between
whites and African Americans. Chesnutt also un-
derscores the power of folk wisdom and illuminates
the ways in which it is routinely underestimated as
a reliable commentary on local life and history.
Bibliography
Andrews, William. The Literary Career of Charles Ches-
nutt. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, 1980.
Heermance, J. Noel. Charles W. Chesnutt: America’s First
Great Black Novelist. Hamden, Conn.: Archon
Books, 1974.
Keller, Frances. An American Crusade: The Life of Charles
Waddell Chesnutt. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young
University Press, 1978.
McWilliams, Dean. Charles Chesnutt and the Fictions of
Race. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002.
“Masks” Eloise Bibb Thompson(1927)
One of two short stories by ELOISE ALBERTA
VERONICABIBBTHOMPSON THAT APPEARED IN
OPPORTUNITY.
Set in New Orleans, the tale chronicles the
tragic lives of Aristile Blanchard and his descen-
dants. Blanchard, a Haitian quadroon, was foiled
in his attempt to spy for the oppressed people of
HAITI. Despite his exceedingly light skin, his
African identity was discovered, and the French
imprisoned him. Blanchard was rescued and was
able to regain his freedom in New Orleans, but he
spent the remainder of his years trying to create a
mask that would confer white features upon its
wearer. His granddaughter Julie has inherited her
father’s obsession with color and the explicit privi-
leges available to lighter-skinned individuals. In an
effort to ensure her status as an aristocratic Creole,
she seizes the chance to marry Paupet, the whitest
octoroon she has ever met. When their first child
is born, however, Julie is quite literally shocked to
death when she sees that her child bears a visible
racial resemblance to her own dark-skinned
mother. Her widowed husband honors his wife, a
woman whom he knew best “only when she was
expecting their offspring.” He orders the inscrip-
tion on her tombstone to read, “Because she saw
with the eyes of her grandfather, she died at the
sight of her babe’s face.”
Thompson’s story is reminiscent of Kate
Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby,” the haunting New Or-
leans story of maternal distress, betrayal, and race
hysteria. Thompson’s work also complements the
novels of JESSIE FAUSET,NELLA LARSEN,
DOROTHY WEST, and others who explored the
often deadly implications of PASSING, racial obses-
sions, and caste prejudice.Mason, Charlotte Louise Osgood
(1854–1946)
One of the most influential patrons of the Harlem
Renaissance, Mason was the daughter of Peter
Quick and Phoebe Vanderveer. She was born in
Franklin Park, New Jersey. She became the second
wife of Rufus Osgood Mason, a native of Sullivan,
New Hampshire, and graduate of Dartmouth Col-
lege. In 1859 he earned his M.D. degree from the
College of Physicians and Surgeons and went on to
become one of New York City’s leading doctors.
During the Civil War, Mason was an acting assis-
tant surgeon. He later pursued his interests in
metaphysical issues, hypnotism, and personality.
He died in 1903 at the age of 73. His 51-year-old
widow, Charlotte, began to use her wealth to pro-
mote anthropological research in Native AmericanMason, Charlotte Louise Osgood 333