SOURCE: "In Memory of Uncle Remus," in The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II, No. 2, February, 1940, pp. 77-83.

An American educator and critic, English edited Harris's works Qua: A Romance of the Revolution (1946) and Seven Tales of Uncle Remus (1948). In addition, he is the author of A.B. Frost and His Predecessors Illustrating Uncle Remus (1978) and the coauthor of Joel Chandler Harris: A Reference Guide (1978). In the following excerpt, English avers that philanthropy and sensitivity pervaded Harris's life and fiction.

Shortly after joining [the Atlanta Constitution, Joel Chandler Harris began] the series of Negro dialect sketches for which he created the character of Uncle Remus, who was to reach his full stature as the teller of the folk tales of the old plantation with the publication of the original Tar-Baby story in July, 1879.

Uncle Remus caught on immediately. To many of the older generation he brought nostalgic memories of...