Why is Charles Chestnutt's story "The Passing of Grandison" considered realistic?

Realism was a literary movement that became especially
influential in nineteenth-century fiction, including American fiction of the second half
of that century. Charles Chestnutt’s story “The Passing of Grandison” can be considered
an example of “realism” in a number of ways, including the
following:

• Its rejection of
  romanticism. Chesnutt’s story rejects romanticism not only in its
  emphasis on the grimly realistic fact of slavery but also because of its mocking
  presentation of Dick Owens’ courtship of Charity Lomax. Dick is anything but a
  swashbuckling romantic hero, and neither Charity nor the story’s readers are inclined to
  take him very seriously.


• Its avoidance of
  naivety or idealism in describing characters. All the characters in this
  story – but especially Dick and his father – are described in ways that emphasize their
  very human flaws and foibles. They are objects of humor rather than exalted
  heroes.


• Its emphasis on mundane
  motives. Dick doesn’t try to free Grandison because
  he is committed to any lofty ideals; he merely wants to convince the skeptical Charity
  to marry him. Charity, in turn, is not some naïve Southern belle; she is a shrewd and
  often sardonic observer of Dick’s various
  shortcomings.


• Its emphasis on
  dialect. This trait is especially obvious whenever Grandison or the other
  slaves speak.


• Its emphasis on everyday
  people and everyday events. Dick comes from a privileged family, but he
  is not an impressive, imposing aristocrat. He is simply a young man desperate to please
  an attractive young woman. As the narrator puts it in the very opening sentence of the
  work,

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When it is said that it was done to please a
woman, there ought perhaps to be enough said to explain anything; for what a man will
not do to please a woman is yet to be
discovered.

In other words,
the narrator ascribes to Dick a realistic motive – a motive that many readers will
recognize in themselves: the desire to impress a potential romantic
partner.

• Its
  regionalism. The story is largely set in the south, but much of it also
  takes place in the north, and each region helps call attention, through contrast, to the
  other’s characteristics.


• Its emphasis on
  dialogue. Much of the humor of the story results from the credible
  language the characters use when speaking to one another. They speak as real people
  might, not like lofty characters declaiming on a
  stage.


• Its concern with realistic
  historical events, in this case the issue of slavery and the rise of
  abolitionism.