Joel Chandler Harris grew up in Georgia, and began his working life as a printer, employed by a newspaper headquartered on a plantation. After working for newspapers throughout Georgia, in 1876 Harris joined the staff of the Atlanta Constitution, which published his first Uncle Remus stories, works directly based on the African American tradition of storytelling that emerged during legalized slavery. Harris’ retelling of African-American folktales, learned throughout his childhood from the enslaved people he encountered, was noted for the use of dialect, something almost unknown at the time. Harris’ depiction of African Americans in the South, during Reconstruction and the subsequent violence of the Jim Crow Era, was both paternalistic and progressive, quietly racist, while decrying the treatment of African American citizens. Scholars assessing his legacy recognize that Harris simultaneously appropriated and preserved an important cultural tradition of storytelling, and both upheld and subtly critiqued White Supremacy of the times.

The Uncle Remus tales became very popular across the United States, and were widely recognized as speaking in a regional voice that had rarely been heard. Clemens was a fan of Harris’s work and often read his stories to his daughters. Occasionally he would select pieces for his public readings. He complimented him by calling him, “the only master the country has produced.” In 1882 Clemens inquired about whether Harris would be interested in joining him and George Washington Cable on a lecture tour. Initially Harris considered the offer but ultimately declined such a public venture. Despite this, Clemens and Harris remained good friends. Harris paid a visit to the Hartford house in 1882 and corresponded with Clemens steadily over the next several years. Harris died in 1908, two years before Clemens.