Roosevelt of Sayville wrote the original Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby stories
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Robert Roosevelt of Sayville, Long Island, wrote the original Brer Rabbit Stories. He introduced the world to the Tar Baby. |
 Robert Roosevelt |
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Robert Roosevelt of Sayville, Long Island, wrote the original Brer Rabbit Stories. He introduced the world to the Tar Baby. |
Robert Roosevelt |
Theodore Roosevelt was friends with Joel Chandler Harris once said to him, "Presidents may come and presidents may go, but Uncle Remus stays put!" President Roosevelt said in 1905 that "what exults the South in the mind of every man who reads it, and yet what has not a flavor of bitterness toward any other part of the Union." and said the Brer Rabbit stories were "a tale, honey, an' tellin' tales is playin.'" In Forbes TR said, "Still there is an occasional outcropping here and there; and it is just as well that we should keep steadily in mind the futility of talking of a Northern literature or a Southern literature, an Eastern or a Western school of art or science. Joel Chandler Harris is emphatically a national writer; so is Mark Twain."
President Roosevelt said Joel Harris Chandler was "a genius", and his books were, "the most striking and powerful permanent contributions to literature that have been produced on this side of the ocean."
Theodore Roosevelt's mother Mittie Bulloch and Aunt Anna Bulloch grew up on a George plantation. They would tell stories for hours about the slaves and the stories they would tell, such as Brer Rabbit and the Tar baby. Robert Roosevelt lived next door. He was the brother of Teddy's father. Robert Roosevelt would listen to the stories of the old south and eventually wrote them down. Robert Roosevelt was a prolific writer and was even good friends with Oscar Wilde. He then compiled the tales and wrote them in short story form. Harper's Weekly then published the stories in their publication. Many years later Joel Harris Chandler would rewrite them. His stories would be published in the local paper, the Atlanta Constitution.
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The original Brer Rabbit stories written by Robert Roosevelt and published in Harper's Weekly. |
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Joel Chandler Harris rewrote the Brer Rabbit stories. |
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The Bulloch Plantation in Georgia, not
far from where Joel Harris Chandler grew up. Teddy Roosevelt's mother and
aunt, both of whom raised him, grew up on this slave plantation.
Two actual former slaves at the Bulloch Plantation, "Roswell.">>
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President Roosevelt |
| Letter From Theodore Roosevelt to Joel Chandler Harris |
| To Joel Chandler Harris White House, Oct. 12, 1901. MY DEAR HARRIS: It is worth while being President when one's small daughter receives that kind of an autograph gift. When I was younger than she is, my Aunt Annie Bulloch, of Georgia, used to tell me some of the brer rabbit stories, especially brer rabbit and the tar baby. But fond though I am of the brer rabbit stories I think I am even fonder of your other writings. I doubt if there is a more genuinely pathetic tale in all our literature than "Free Joe." Moreover I have felt that all that you write serves to bring our gether. I know, of course, the ordinary talk is that an artist should be judged purely by his art; but I am rather a Philistine and like to feel that the art serves a good purpose. Your art is not only an art addition to our sum of national achievement, but it has also always been an addition to the forces that tell for decency, and above all for the blotting out of sectional antagonism. Theodore Roosevelt |
| President Roosevelt - Letter to Harris in 1902 |
| White House, June 9, 1902. MY DEAR MR. HARRIS: Your letter was a great relief to Kermit, who always becomes personally interested in his favorite author, and who has been much worried by your sickness. He would be more than delighted with a copy of "Daddy Jake." Alice has it already, but Kermit eagerly wishes it. Last night Mrs. Roosevelt and I were sitting out on the porch at the back of the White House, and were talking of you and wishing you could be sitting there with us. It is delightful at all times, but I think especially so after dark. The monument stands up distinct but not quite earthly in the night, and at this season the air is sweet with the jasmine and honeysuckle. All of the younger children are at present absorbed in various pets, perhaps the foremost of which is a puppy of the most orthodox puppy type. Then there is Jack, the terrier, and Sailor Boy, the Chesapeake Bay dog; and Eli, the most gorgeous macaw, with a bill that I think could bite through boiler plate, who crawls all over Ted, and whom I view with dark suspicion; and Jonathan, the piebald rat, of most friendly and affectionate nature, who also crawls all over everybody; and the flying squirrel, and two kangaroo rats; not to speak of Archie's pony, Algonquin, who is the most absolute pet of them all. Mrs. Roosevelt and I have, I think, read all your stories to the children, and some of them over and over again. |
Joel Chandler Harris grew up poor near Atlanta, in Georgia. He wrote for a
local paper called the Atlanta Constitution. The character of Uncle Remus was
the idea of Joel Harris Chandler which he added on the the nationally published
works of Robert Roosevelt. Since Harper's Weekly was the most important media
outlet in the United States, when a series of stories were published that took
place in metropolitan Atlanta, it caused a lot of interest among locals. One of
these locals was of course Joel Harris Chandler.
song of the south zip a
dee doo dah. Brer Rabbit
Stories of Georgia. 8k
Creators and fans of Southern literature -- that geographically revealing style of writing that often warrants its own section in book stores -- gathered in Civil War territory this weekend for the Chattanooga Conference on Southern Literature.
The event, now in its 10th biennial and organized by Fellowship of Southern Writers, ran from April 15-17 and attracts some of the top names in Southern writing. This year's guest list included such notables as Horton Foote, Kaye Gibbons, Charles Frazier, Doris Betts, Lee Smith, and Randall Kenan. Also in attendance were readers and publishing industry representatives looking to find the pulse of the prose that Faulkner and Wolfe took to new heights, then left to the winds of their legacy.
When asked what attracted her to the Tennessee conference this year, Gibbons - the author of novels like "A Virtuous Woman" and "Sight Unseen" -- showed the sense of humor that is evident in her writing. Santeria history, folklore, Santeria History, Rituals, Orishas, Spells, Cuba & Religion
| Gibbons |
"I love meeting the readers. I've gotten to be such a hater of people that readers are the only people I like anymore," she said between signing autographs. She had just finished speaking on a panel titled, "Lace to Leather: Portrayal of Women in Southern Literature."
