Joel Chandler Harris

Born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1848, Joel Chandler Harris started working young and learned the newspaper trade as an apprentice printer. He later built a long career in journalism, especially in Atlanta, where he became associated with The Atlanta Constitution.

Harris became famous for collecting and adapting African American animal folktales in the Uncle Remus books, beginning with Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings in 1880. Those stories introduced many readers to characters like Brer Rabbit and made him one of the best-known American writers of his time.

He published fiction, folklore, and children's writing throughout his career and died in 1908. Today he is remembered both for preserving stories that might otherwise have been lost and for the debates his work continues to spark about authorship, representation, and the cultural setting in which the tales were recorded.