Uncle Remus

Many readers will already be familiar with Uncle Remus’ favorite animal characters – Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox among them – and some of the popular tales concerning them. (To this day, “tar baby” as an expression for a particularly sticky situation that is almost impossible to solve, has passed into the English language and common use.) Even people who have never read any of these tales will know exactly why you don’t throw a rabbit into a briar patch, mainly because Walt Disney produced his first movie ever to use professional actors with animation, called “Song of the South”, based on the Uncle Remus tales.

Joel Chandler Harris, a newsman in Georgia, grew up listening to folktales told by the local black population. Later, he published his version of these tales in a series of stories printed in the “Atlanta Constitution.” The tales of, and by, Harris’ chief character Uncle Remus, an old black man scrabbling to make his living in the post-Civil War South, were extremely popular and widely read. Harris’ use of innovative spelling to give the reader a sense of the black dialect was considered novel. While this is not a book that will pass a current political correctness test, due to its use of labels for black folks which have gone out of polite conversation, Uncle Remus is a largely sympathetic look at post-war plantation life. Uncle Remus himself is a warm, folksy man of good humor and dry wit, and after finishing his animal stories, the remaining sayings and tales are a moment of history frozen in amber.

By : Joel Chandler Harris (1848 - 1908)

1 - 01 - Uncle Remus initiates the Little Boy 1 - 02 - The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story 1 - 03 - Why Mr. Possum loves Peace 1 - 04 - How Mr. Rabbit was too sharp for Mr. Fox 1 - 05 - The Story of the Deluge, and how it came about 1 - 06 - Mr. Rabbit grossly deceives Mr. Fox 1 - 07 - Mr. Fox is again victimized 1 - 08 - Mr. Fox is outdone by Mr. Buzzard 1 - 09 - Miss Cow falls a Victim to Mr. Rabbit 1 - 10 - Mr. Terrapin appears upon the Scene 1 - 11 - Mr. Wolf makes a Failure 1 - 12 - Mr. Fox tackles Old Man Tarrypin 1 - 13 - The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf 1 - 14 - Mr. Fox and the Deceitful Frogs 1 - 15 - Mr. Fox goes a-hunting, but Mr. Rabbit bags the Game 1 - 16 - Old Mr. Rabbit, he's a Good Fisherman 1 - 17 - Mr. Rabbit nibbles up the Butter 1 - 18 - Mr. Rabbit finds his Match at last 1 - 19 - The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow 1 - 20 - How Mr. Rabbit saved his Meat 1 - 21 - Mr. Rabbit meets his Match again 1 - 22 - A Story about the Little Rabbits 1 - 23 - Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear 1 - 24 - Mr. Bear catches Old Mr. Bull-Frog 1 - 25 - How Mr. Rabbit lost his Fine Bushy Tail 1 - 26 - Mr. Terrapin shows his Strength 1 - 27 - Why Mr. Possum has no Hair on his Tail 1 - 28 - The End of Mr. Bear 1 - 29 - Mr. Fox gets into Serious Business 1 - 30 - How Mr. Rabbit succeeded in raising a Dust 1 - 31 - A Plantation Witch 1 - 32 - Jacky-my-Lantern 1 - 33 - Why the Negro is Black 1 - 34 - The Sad Fate of Mr. Fox 1 - 35 - Plantation Proverbs 2 - 1 - Revival Hymn, Camp-Meeting Song, Corn-Shucking Song 2 - 2 - The Plough-hands Song, Christmas Play-Song, Plantation Play-Song, A Plantation Chant, A... 2 - 3 - De Big Bethel Church, Time goes by Turns 3 - A Story of the War 4 - 1 - Jeems Rober'son's Last Illness, Uncle Remus's Church Experience, Uncle Remus and the... 4 - 2 - Turnip Salad as a Text, A Confession, Uncle Remus with the Toothache 4 - 3 - The Phonograph, Race Improvement, In the Role of a Tartar 4 - 4 - A Case of Measles, The Emigrants, As a Murderer 4 - 5 - His Practical View of Things, That Deceitful Jug, The Florida Watermelon 4 - 6 - Uncle Remus preaches to a Convert, As to Education, A Temperance Reformer 4 - 7 - As a Weather Prophet, The Old Man's Troubles, The Fourth of July