Final answer:
Charles Waddell Chesnutt is considered the father of African American short story, a precursor to writers of the Harlem Renaissance like Langston Hughes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The father of African American short story is often considered to be Charles Waddell Chesnutt. Born in 1858, Chesnutt was one of the first African American writers to achieve national recognition. While he was successful during the period of American Literary Realism, his stories often dealt with the complexities of race and identity, such as in his notable collections 'The Conjure Woman' and 'The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line'. His groundbreaking work laid the foundation for future African American literature and influenced many writers during the Harlem Renaissance, a period of rich cultural growth in music, art, and literature among African-Americans in the 1920s.
Other prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance included Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay, who each addressed the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in their works. Hughes, in particular, was a prolific poet whose works such as 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' and 'I, Too, Sing America' became emblematic of the period and of African American literature. However, Chesnutt's earlier contributions to the African American narrative and his portrayal of African American characters in a humanizing light were pioneering.