Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Harris, Joel Chandler

HARRIS, JOEL CHANDLER, an American journalist and story writer; born in Eatonton, Ga., Dec. 8, 1848. He began life as a printer's apprentice, and afterward studied law, drifting finally into journalism. He had a thorough familiarity with the negro of the postbellum period, and while editing an Atlanta paper he produced for it the series of “Uncle Remus” sketches and songs which immediately made him known. “The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation” appeared in 1880, followed by “Nights with Uncle Remus” (1883); “Mingo and Other Sketches” (1883); “Daddy Jake, the Runaway" (1889); “On the Wings of Occasion” (1900); “Told by Uncle Remus" (1905); “Uncle Remus and Br'er Rabbit” (1907). He died in 1908.