In his day Joel Chandler Harris was one of America's most popular authors, known throughout the world for his humorous Negro folktales told through the dialect of kindly old "Uncle Remus." Harris has also been recognized as a newspaper journalist (he served for twenty-four years as an associate editor of the Atlanta Constitution) but as a magazine editor he has been generally overlooked. Harris's importance in the development of magazine journalism is limited, but notable. He founded Uncle Remus's Magazine in 1907 and in one year managed it to a circulation of two hundred thousand; moreover, he provided the editorial impetus that carried the magazine for five years beyond his death in 1908.

Harris was born 9 December 1848 in the Putnam County, Georgia, community of Eatonton. His mother, Mary Harris, was from a respected family in nearby Newton County; his father was an Irish laborer. His parents were never married and...