Joel Chandler Harris of his published Uncle Remus stories, including "" (1880), "Nights with Uncle Remus" (1883), "Uncle Remus and His Friends" (1892), "The Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus" (1904), "" (1905), "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit" (1907). The last three books written by Joel Chandler Harris were published after his death which included "Uncle Remus and the Little Boy" (1910), "Uncle Remus Returns" (1918), and "Seven Tales of Uncle Remus" (1948). The tales, 185 in sum, became immensely popular among both black and white readers in the North and South. Few people outside of the South had heard accents
Joel Chandler Harris a problematic and contradictory figure: sometimes a mouthpiece for white paternalism, sometimes a stereotype of the black entertainer, and sometimes poetically subversive. Julius Lester, a black folklorist and university professor, sees the Uncle Remus stories as important records of black folklore. He has rewritten many of the Harris stories in an effort to elevate the subversive elements over the purportedly racist ones. Regarding the nature of the Uncle Remus character, Lester said, There are no inaccuracies in Harris's characterization of Uncle Remus. Even the most cursory reading of the slave narratives collected by the Federal Writer's Project of the 1930s