Nights With Uncle Remus

Joel Chandler Harris (Dec 9, 1848 – Jul 3, 1908) was an American journalist, writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories.  He spent the majority of his adult life in Atlanta working as an associate editor at the Atlanta Constitution. Harris led two professional lives: as Joe Harris, a journalist, he supported a vision of the New South. As Joel Chandler Harris, a writer, he wrote many stories from the African-American folklore.

Nights with Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore, collected from Southern United States African-Americans. Many of the stories are didactic, much like Aesop's Fables. Uncle Remus is a kindly old former slave who serves as a storytelling device, passing on the folktales to children gathered around him.