Sheriff's Children

Chesnutt starts out portraying the Sheriff as a noble man, but as the story continues he appears to be no different than any other white man in the town. Yes, the Sheriff wants to protect the prisoner until trial, but it is not until he finds out the man is his son does he want to find the real murderer. I am sure people were angry at the fact that the prisoner was the son of the white sheriff and a black woman 

Goophered Grapevine

The story begins with the narrator who is telling his story about purchasing his grapevine. Within his story is the story about the vineyard that Julius is telling. Julius had been making a profit on the abandoned vineyard and no doubt wanted the vineyard to stay abandoned so he tells the couple about curse. I am not sure whether the vineyard was actually cursed or it was just an attempt to stop the selling of the vineyard. 

I think that Henry is definitely portrayed as a commodity in the "Goophered Grapevine." When his owner realizes that he is able to do great work in the summer and is then unable to work in the winter he cons several men into buying Henry and eventually selling him back when he can't work. He is able to profit more from selling and re-buying Henry than the work he can actually do. In a way it