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
Uncle Remus it. When Br'er Rabbit comes along, he addresses the "tar baby" amiably but receives no response. Br'er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the tar baby's lack of manners, punches and kicks it, and becomes stuck. The animal stories were conveyed in such a manner that they were not seen as racist by many among the audiences of the time. By the mid-20th century, however, the dialect and the narrator's "old uncle" stereotype were considered demeaning by many African-American people, reflecting what they considered to be racist and patronizing attitudes toward African-Americans. Providing additional controversy is the stories'