Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories.
Harris led two professional lives: as the editor and journalist known as Joe Harris, he supported a vision of the New South with the editor Henry W. Grady, stressing regional and racial reconciliation after the Reconstruction era. As Joel Chandler Harris, fiction writer and folklorist, he wrote many 'Brer Rabbit' stories from the African-American oral tradition and helped to revolutionize literature in the process.
Not long after taking the newspaper job, Harris began writing the Uncle Remus stories. The tales were reprinted across the United States, and Harris was approached by publisher D. Appleton and Company to compile them for a book. Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings was published near the end of 1880. Harris bought a farmhouse in West End, Atlanta, and transformed it into a Queen Anne Victorian in the Eastlake style. Tis home, called The Wren's Nest, was where Harris spent most of his time.
Harris accepted an invitation to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt, who said, "Presidents may come and presidents may go, but Uncle Remus stays put....."
(source: wikipedia)