Uncle Remus films: The song "Uncle Remus" was included on Frank Zappa's album "Apostrophe (')" (1974). The song co-written by Zappa and keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, tackled the subject of racial relations in America, and is something of a spiritual successor to "Trouble Every Day", a track on "Freak Out!" (1966) addressing similar issues. "Uncle Remus" is also mentioned as a character in "The Land of Make Believe" by Chuck Mangione (1973). Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African-American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881. A
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