Br'er Rabbit aunt from the State of Georgia, that "She knew all the 'Br'er Rabbit' stories, and I was brought up on them. One of my uncles, Robert Roosevelt, was much struck with them, and took them down from her dictation, publishing them in "Harper's", where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal." These stories were popularized for the mainstream audience in the late 19th century by Joel Chandler Harris (1845–1908), who wrote down and published many such stories that had been passed down by oral tradition. Harris
George Remus George Remus George Remus (November 14, 1874 – January 20, 1952) was an American lawyer and bootlegger during the Prohibition era. Remus was known to have referred to himself in the third person after his rise to power during the early days of Prohibition, which he reportedly continued to do until his death. It has been claimed that he was the inspiration for the title character Jay Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Remus was born in Berlin, Germany in 1874 to Frank and Maria Remus. Remus' family moved to Chicago by the time he was 5.