What is the main conflict in The Sheriff's Children by Charles W. Chesnutt?

"The Sheriff's Children" was one of Charles Waddell Chesnutt's first pieces of fiction exploring the insidious effect of racism on America. Collected in The Wife of His Youth, and Other Stories of the Color Lineeleven years after its initial magazine publication, even at the turn of the century "The Sheriff's Children" stood out for its indictment of white society in contributing to the problems faced by African Americans.