Final answer:
Charles Waddell Chesnutt primarily contributed his works during the Realism literary period, which aimed to represent reality in a detailed and accurate manner.
Step-by-step explanation:
Charles Waddell Chesnutt primarily contributed his works during the Realism literary period. Realism was a literary movement that emerged after the American Civil War and aimed to represent reality in a detailed and accurate manner. Chesnutt's stories, such as "The Goophered Grapevine" and "The Passing of Grandison," explored themes of African-American culture and the complexities of race in the post-Civil War South.