The Song of Southern Controversies Explained

Before we get into the many controversies of the Disney film, let's first look at the source material. "Song of the South" is based on the "Uncle Remus" stories written by Joel Chandler Harris. Although "written" is a term used very loosely here. Harris was a white pro-Confederation journalist from Georgia who spent much of his formative Civil War years on a plantation. When not apprenticed to Joseph Addison Turner's The Countryman newspaper, Harris spent his time in the slave quarters of his employer's Turnwold Plantation, listening to traditional African tales from people like Uncle George. Terrell, Old Harbert and aunt. Crissy, which would become all the foundations of the Uncle Remus character.

About fifteen years later, Harris began compiling the stories he had heard from slaves about characters like Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear in his first book, titled "Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings". According to R. Bruce Bickely Jr.'s book about the author, Harris wanted to "preserve in permanent form those curious memories of a period which will no doubt be sadly distorted by future historians." He also used a " black dialect" to "keep the authenticity" in his parables.

However, it does not appear that Harris simply wanted to preserve the culture of the people behind these stories. Rather than creating his own original tales, he capitalized on slave folklore by transcribing their stories and taking credit for them. Although praised at the time and inspiring contemporary writers like Mark Twain, Harris' legacy of major works has become the very definition of cultural appropriation.