way of compassion when it comes to treating the child. Because the patient treated is explicitly a child, his continued life thanks to Miller’s actions represents the future and hope.

Essentially, Dr. Miller and Josh Green represent the two poles of a debate among African-Americans in the wake of the Wilmington "race riots," the forcible overthrow of African-American leadership in the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898. The events in Marrow of Tradition are based on these events.

Dr. Miller represents a moderate voice among African-Americans. He is educated, is married to a woman of mixed race, and belongs to an emerging black middle class. He believes open resistance to white supremacy is futile, a conviction he displays when he is forced to switch passenger cars on a train in Virginia, and most tellingly when he refuses to lead the black community in armed resistance against a lynch mob. 

Josh Green, on the other hand, is angry and bitter, having lost his father to Klan violence (specifically at the hands of Captain George McBane) when he was young. He believes in violent resistance, even if it results in his own death. Having much less to lose than Dr. Miller, he is far less patient than the doctor, who is a believer in gradual, orderly reform. The differences between the two are highlighted in an exchange in Dr. Miller's office, when Greene shows up for treatment after being wounded in a fight. "You'll hit the wrong man one day...You'll get into a quarrel with a white man, and at the end of it, there'll be a lynching, or a funeral."

Greene replies, referring specifically to McBane:

I expec's ter die a vi'lent death in a quarrel wid a w'ite man...and fu'thermo', he's gwine ter die at the same time, er a little befo'...I'm gwine ter kill dat man as sho' as I'm settin' in dis cheer...

His prediction comes true, but Miller's nobility in rescuing Carteret's son near the end of the novel confirms that while Chesnutt admires the courage of Green, he sees true nobility in taking the high ground. 

In C. W. Chesnutt’s novel, Dr. William Miller and Josh Green are members of two different generations who represent different perspectives on the significance of race in American society. The novel takes place several decades after Emancipation, an era when the Southern states had enacted the restrictive, discriminatory Jim Crow laws. The two men respectively stand for the more conservative and more radical views of African American identity and activism in the late nineteenth century.

Miller has built a medical career and achieved success through traveling in the right circles. His professional and social connections are to white society, gained largely through his wife; while both are African American, she has one white parent, and her light skin gives her greater access to white society. Although he is constantly made aware of the reality of discrimination, such as in changing train cars, he still understands his role as making inroads into the segregated society. Miller finds himself in a moral dilemma regarding the treatment of Major Carteret’s son. As a physician and as a person, he cannot refuse; however, he feels qualms about doing so because of the racial bases of the violence ripping apart their town.

Starkly contrasted to Miller’s studied, conservative approach is the rashness and impatience that Josh Green displays. He becomes increasingly concerned about the regressive direction of justice as rights are withdrawn from African Americans. When the local conflicts spill over into sustained violence, Green leaps into action. To the reader, it is not always clear what the author’s position is on Green’s justification in involvement in that violence. The larger moral question is under what circumstances violence becomes meaningful or inevitable. Green’s individual behavior focuses on Carteret because of his earlier involvement in Green’s father’s death. While condemning the motive of revenge, the author nevertheless suggests that a man must act as his honor obligates him to.

The Marrow Of Tradition initially presents Josh Green and Doctor William Miller as two men who seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum in regard to anti-racist activism. Green is vehemently opposed to all types of white supremacy and strongly committed to trying to achieve justice for black people. He adheres to his position despite the risk of personal harm or even death at the hands of violent extremists. Although Miller is a physician, he initially seems more interested in pursuing personal advancement by continuously accommodating to the pressures of white society. He is hesitant to rock the boat not only because of the possible damage to his career but also because he believes that activism will be counter-productive and lead to increased violence.

Green’s militance is shown as an outgrowth of his deep conviction in racial equality, but also the effects of having lost his father to racist violence. While he advocates justice for all African Americans, the element of revenge also motivates his behavior. Because Green is willing to lay down his life, he is shown as abiding by his principles. Miller's position is complicated by his marriage to a biracial woman, which facilitates his functioning in upper-middle-class, white society. The author connects Miller to the racist Carteret by having their wives be half-sisters. Although Miller adheres to his professional oath by treating the Carteret’s child, he cannot help his wife, who must face the hypocrisy of her white sibling.