Uncle Remus was a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form from 1881. A journalist in post-reconstruction Atlanta, Georgia, Harris produced seven Uncle Remus books. A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 8, 1848 - July 3, 1908) was an American journalist from Georgia, best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories: Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings (1881), Nights with Uncle Remus (1883), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), and Uncle... 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... // Reconstruction was a period in United States history, 1863–1877, that resolved the issues of the American Civil War when both the Confederacy and its system of slavery were destroyed. ... Nickname: Hotlanta, The Big Peach, The ATL, A-Town Location in Fulton County in the state of Georgia Coordinates: Country United States State Georgia Counties Fulton, Dekalb Mayor Shirley Franklin (D) Area    - City 343. ...

Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore, collected from Southern United States blacks. Many of the stories are didactic, much like those of Aesop's fables and the stories of Jean de La Fontaine. Uncle Remus is a kindly old slave who serves as a storytelling device, passing on the folktales to white children gathered around him. Oral tradition or oral culture is a way of transmitting history, literature or law from one generation to the next in a civilization without a writing system. ... Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, material culture, and so forth, common to a particular population, comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. ... Southern United States. ... A Kenyan man This article is about the different definitions of the term black people. For other terms related to black people, see Black people (terminology). ... Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel. ... Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621 – April 13, 1695) is the most famous French fabulist and probably the most widely read French poet of the 17th century. ... Slave redirects here. ... American white woman with red hair and blue eyes French white man Austrian white woman with blond hair In the context of basic English usage, the term White people (also white race or whites) is used to denote ... a human group having light-coloured skin, especially of European ancestry. ...

The stories are told in Harris' version of a Deep South slave dialect. The genre of stories is the trickster tale. The term "uncle" was a patronizing, familiar and often racist title reserved by whites for elderly black men in the South, which is considered, by some, pejorative and offensive. At the time of Harris' publication, his work was praised for its ability to capture plantation negro dialect.^{[citation needed]}Brer Rabbit ("Brother Rabbit") is the main character of the stories, a likable trickster prone to getting into trouble who is often opposed by Brer Fox and Brer Bear. In one tale, Brer Fox and Brer Bear construct a lump of tar and put clothing on it. When Brer Rabbit comes along he addresses the "tar baby" amiably, but receives no response. Brer Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as Tar Baby's lack of manners, kicks it, and becomes stuck. Now that Brer Rabbit is stuck, Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless, but cunning, Brer Rabbit pleads, "Please don't throw me in the briar patch," prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Brer Rabbit escapes. Using the phrases "please don't throw me in the briar patch" and "tar baby" to refer to the idea of "a problem that gets worse the more one struggles against it" became part of the wider culture of the United States in the mid-20th century. Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section can be improved by converting lengthy lists to text. ... A word or phrase is pejorative if it implies contempt or disapproval. ... // Negro means black in the Spanish and Portuguese, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. ... Brer Rabbit is the hero of the Uncle Remus stories derived from African-American folktales of the US South. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Brer Bear Brer Bear is the dumbfounded bear from Disneys animated movie, Song of the South. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... American cultural icons, such as apple pie, baseball, and the American flag. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

The animal stories are not racist and had considerable popular appeal, but by the Civil Rights era of the 1960s the dialect and the "old Uncle" stereotype of the narrator, long considered demeaning by many blacks, as well as Harris' racist and patronizing attitudes toward blacks and his defense of slavery in his foreword, made the book indefensible. Without much controversy the book and movie became less popular. ^{[citation needed]} 1. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Harris himself said, in the introduction to Uncle Remus, that he hoped his book would be considered:

…a sympathetic supplement to Mrs. Stowe's [author of Uncle Tom's Cabin] wonderful defense of slavery as it existed in the South. Mrs. Stowe, let me hasten to say, attacked the possibilities of slavery with all the eloquence of genius; but the same genius painted the portrait of the Southern slave-owner, and defended him. Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, born (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an abolitionist and writer of 30 books, the most famous being Uncle Toms Cabin which describes life in slavery, and which was first published in serial form from 1851 to 1852... Uncle Toms Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is a novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. ...

In Harris' day, among most southern whites, this would have been a moderate or even enlightened position to take. However, in other parts of American society in the 1880s and certainly in the modern United States, such views would be considered contemptibly racist.^{[citation needed]}Mark Twain read the Uncle Remus stories to his children, who were awed to meet Harris himself. In his Autobiography Twain describes him thus: In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two extreme or radical viewpoints. ... The Age of Enlightenment (from the German word Aufklärung, meaning Enlightenment) refers to either the eighteenth century in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the seventeenth century and the Age of Reason. ... // Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...

He was the bashfulest grown person I have ever met. When there were people about he stayed silent, and seemed to suffer until they were gone. But he was lovely, nevertheless; for the sweetness and benignity of the immortal Remus looked out from his eyes, and the graces and sincerities of his character shone in his face.

Twain wrote that "It may be that Jim Wolf was as bashful as Harris. It hardly seems possible...." Jim Wolf being a person from the first humorous story Twain ever told—the story recorded in "Jim Wolf and the Cats".

Film adaptations

The stories inspired at least three films. The first and most famous of which is Walt Disney's Song of the South, released in 1946. The film was a combination of live-action and animation. The film was extremely popular throughout the years, but has never been released on home video in the United States due to fear of controversy. The stories also inspired a direct-to-video film, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, released in 2006. The cult film Coonskin, directed by Ralph Bakshi was very loosely inspired by the Uncle Remus stories, but intended for an adult audience. Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist. ... Song of the South is a feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions, released on November 12, 1946 by RKO Radio Pictures and based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. ... The home video business rents and sells videocassettes and DVDs to the public. ... The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, released in 2006, is a direct-to-video film inspired by the Uncle Remus stories. ... Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has accrued a highly devoted group of fans. ... Coonskin is a 1975 adult animation film directed by Ralph Bakshi, about a black rabbit and his two buddies, a fox, and a bear, who try to take over the crime rackets in Harlem. ... Ralph Bakshi (October 29, 1938) is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films. ...

Music Adaptations

Frank Zappa titled song #8 on his landmark album, Apostrophe ('), "Uncle Remus". The song appears to have little to do with these folk tales. Instead, it presents an edgy criticism of the lack of continuous struggle of Africans Americans for equal civil rights. Frank Vincent Zappa[1] (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. ... Apostrophe () is an album by Frank Zappa, who released it in April 1974, in both the stereo and quadraphonic formats. ...

External links

• Full text of books by Uncle Remus from Project Gutenberg
• Robert Roosevelt's Brer Rabbit Stories
• Theodore Roosevelt autobiography on Brer Rabbit and his Uncle

The song "Zippity-Do-Dah" won an Oscar from the movie "Song of the South", did it not? Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...