JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS (1848-1908)
Harris is famous for writing the Uncle Remus stories. In these tales animal characters such as Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox act like human beings. The resourceful and witty Brer Rabbit exemplified survival for slaves in the South. These stories were based on traditional African tricksters tales and folklore that slaves told on the plantations. Harris worked on a plantation where he learned the language and listened to the stories of the slaves. Their stories became the basis for his successful tales. The Uncle Remus tales are a valuable contribution to Southern folklore, capturing the folk tales, speech, and culture of Southern blacks.
The following African folktales are recommended for giving an insight into the basis for the
Uncle Remus stories: Rabbit Makes a Monkey of Lion by Verna Aardema and Sungura and Leopard by Barbara Knutson.
Contributed by B. Razza, 11/18/95.
LETTER FROM THEODORE ROOSEVELT
TO JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
To Joel Chandler Harris
White House, Oct. 12, 1901.
MY DEAR HARRIS:
It is worth while being President when one's small daughter receives that kind of an autograph gift. When I was younger than she is, my Aunt Annie Bulloch, of Georgia, used to tell me some of the brer rabbit stories, especially brer rabbit and the tar baby. But fond though I am of the brer rabbit stories I think I am even fonder of your other writings. I doubt if there is a more genuinely pathetic tale in all our literature than "Free Joe." Moreover I have felt that all that you write serves to bring our gether. I know, of course, the ordinary talk is that an artist should be judged purely by his art; but I am rather a Philistine and like to feel that the art serves a good purpose. Your art is not only an art addition to our sum of national achievement, but it has also always been an addition to the forces that tell for decency, and above all for the blotting out of sectional antagonism.
Theodore Roosevelt