Joel Chandler Harris: An Overview

Joel Chandler Harris has been and is still is, in many ways, the subject of much acclaim
and controversy. Harris may not garner as much name recognition as he once did, but the
characters he popularied and!or created certainly do: "ncle #emus, $rer #abbit, and the %ar
$aby tend to provo&e immediate reactions. 'ith the e(ception of "ncle #emus, these are the
characters Harris adopted from fol&lore and popularied in his Uncle Remus series. "ncle
#emus, however, was Harris) own creation. He drew from his own memories of various slaves
he was e(posed to during his time as an apprentice to Joeseph Addison %urner. *t was on
%urner)s plantation, locally &nown then as %urnerworld, that Harris first encountered the many
men that would eventually be "ncle #emus. %hroughout the stories, "ncle #emus is portrayed
telling African American fol& tales to a young white boy. *n creating "ncle #emus Harris
created a narrative structure to retell the stories of former slaves.
+or many years, Harris) stories were a favorite amongst both national and international
audiences, but over time, more and more readers encountered these stories and wal&ed away
from them feeling perple(ed and, sometimes, angry. +ellow ,atonton writer Alice 'al&er is one
of these people ta&ing issue with his wor&. -he argues that Harris .stole a good part of her
heritage by ma&ing her feel ashamed of it
/
.0 +or 'al&er, the problem is situated in the fact that
new generations of African Americans receive their own stories filtered through a white man.
+or 'al&er and many other readers this perceived e(ploitation of blac& culture forever mars the
stories and suggests a troubling nostalgia on the part of the writer for the bygone days of slavery.
*t appears, however, that this was not at all Harris) intent when he decided to retell these
stories. He claimed that the very premise of the "ncle #emus stories was to see oppressors
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'al&er, Alice. 1"ncle #emus, 2o +riend of 3ine.1 Southern Exposure 4 5/46/7: 849:/. ;rint.
/
subverted. *n a letter to Andrew Carnegie, Harris said his highest ambition was to .smooth over,
soothe and eventually dissinate <sic= all ill feelings and prejudice between the races.0
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He wanted
to fit Uncle Remus Magazine with .such gentle and sure persuasion with respect to the negro
>uestion, which is also the white man)s >uestion, that honest people cannot resist them...0 ? in
other words, Harris hoped to present African Americans in a way white Americans would find
more appealing. 'hile this may seem overtly offensive to our modern ears, it was this attitude
that made Harris racially progressive for his time.
-till today, the >uestion concerning the appropriateness of retelling Harris) stories
remains, with scholars occupying positions on both sides of the divide. -ome believe that these
stories have to be told because they are seemingly an ade>uate representation of @ullah
language
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as well as because they are important representations of American culture and history.
Others argue that the language is offensive and Harris) telling of the stories is offensive.
'herever scholars find themselves in the debate, one thing is certain. *n their efforts to
determine whether or not to retell the stories, the stories are being told.
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1%he %ar $aby and the %omahaw&: #ace and ,thnic *mages in American ChildrenAs Biterature, /66C9/4:4.1
The Tar Baby and the Tomahawk: Race and Ethnic mages in !merican "hildren#s $iterature% &''()&*+*.
Center for Digital #esearch in the Humanities, "niversity of 2ebras&a at Bincoln, n.d. 'eb. 8: -ept. 8C/:
:
%roi&e, #udolph C. 1Assessing %he Authenticity Of Joel Chandler HarrisAs "se Of @ullah.1 !merican Speech :
58C/C7: 86E. ,ST-R !rts . Sciences . 'eb. 8F June 8C/:.
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'or&s Cited
1%he %ar $aby and the %omahaw&: #ace and ,thnic *mages in American ChildrenAs
Biterature, /66C9/4:4.1 The Tar Baby and the Tomahawk: Race and Ethnic mages in
!merican "hildren#s $iterature% &''()&*+*. Center for Digital #esearch in the
Humanities, "niversity of 2ebras&a at Bincoln, n.d. 'eb. 8: -ept. 8C/:
%roi&e, #udolph C. 1Assessing %he Authenticity Of Joel Chandler HarrisAs "se Of @ullah.1
!merican Speech : 58C/C7: 86E. ,ST-R !rts . Sciences . 'eb. 8F June 8C/:.
'al&er, Alice. 1"ncle #emus, 2o +riend of 3ine.1 Southern Exposure 4 5/46/7: 849:/. ;rint.
: