Harris, Joel Chandler

Harris, Joel Chandler (1848–1908), born and reared in a small town in Georgia, worked on newspapers in Macon, New Orleans, and Savannah before joining the staff of the Atlanta Constitution, with which he was associated from 1876 until the founding of his own Uncle Remus's Magazine (1907). His first Uncle Remus story appeared in the Constitution in 1879, and the first collection in book form, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881), was followed by Nights with Uncle Remus (1883), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), Mr. Rabbit at Home (1895), The Tar‐Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus (1904), Uncle Remus and Br'er Rabbit (1906), and other collections, all more exclusively addressed to children than was the first. These works were among the first, and remain the greatest, in the school of black folk literature. Uncle Remus is both typical and strongly individual, and his tales, based on native legends, are told with a simple humor and authentic dialect that is in perfect harmony with the thing said and the way of saying it. The rich plantation background and the elaborate dialogue of the animals are also remarkably fine. Mingo and Other Sketches in Black and White (1884) was the first of a number of volumes in which Harris portrayed Georgia aristocrats, poor whites, and ex‐slaves with fidelity, understanding, and humor. These include two novels, Sister Jane: Her Friends and Acquaintances (1896) and Gabriel Tolliver: A Story of Reconstruction (1902), and such volumes of short stories as Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches (1887), Tales of the Home Folks in Peace and War (1898), and The Making of a Statesman (1902), all of which contribute to Harris's eminence among authors of local‐color fiction.