# Joel Harris

## Biography

Joel Chandler Harris, born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1848, was an American journalist and folklorist primarily recognized for his beloved collection of Uncle Remus stories. Despite humble beginnings, Harris embarked on a distinguished career in journalism. He served as an apprentice on a plantation in his youth, where he gained exposure to the African American oral storytelling tradition that would later inspire his most famous works. Harris spent most of his adult life in Atlanta, working as an associate editor for The Atlanta Constitution. It was there that he began publishing the dialect tales featuring the characters of Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit, and Brer Fox, which quickly gained national popularity. Through his journalism, Harris also championed racial reconciliation and African-American education in the post-Civil War South. He authored numerous books beyond the Uncle Remus collections and continued to write until his death in 1908 at his home, The Wren's Nest, in Atlanta.

## Books

- [Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit](https://samolit.com/books/96695)