In Colonels Dream, Chesnutt powerfully captures the despair of the Reconstruction era in the post-Civil War South, where the desire to restore the old social order clashed with the hopes for a new beginning. This poignant novel explores how deep-rooted racial animosity and the ineffectiveness of a hesitant Federal Government undermined justice, paving the way for oppressive systems like Jim Crow, lynching, chain gangs, and work farms—all designed to disenfranchise African Americans. - Summary by James K. White