HIT: Uncle Remus

["Deborah J. Stafford" <stafford@EMAIL.WIESBADEN.ARMY.MIL>]

Many thanks to all who answered my request.  I received some requests for the
information so here are the comments, edited to fit the file.

The Joel Chandler originals are really difficult for kids because
of the dialect. In middle school I used the Julius Lester's
retelling and updated stories. I taught the kids to do story telling with
them.

I also just visited New Orleans and spent time at a newly renovated Creole
plantation which is the site where the Uncle Remus stories were first
recorded. It is called Laura's Plantation and they have a book out on the
original Creole stories.

Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly includes at least one
Uncle Remus tale.  I use these, some of which are written in
dialect, because they are  from African American sources and,
IMHO, reflect a pride in their past.

fyi, in one of my graduate courses, my professor told us that the
Uncle Remus stories are versions of the Anansi stories from Africa.  The
slaves retold the stories of their homeland using the animals of their
new country i.e. the rabbit, bear, fox, etc..  The name Anansi became
Aunt Nancy.  Joel Chandler Harris, when writing down the stories,
changed the name to Uncle Remus from the old slave storyteller. One
episode from  A Story, A Story is very similar to the tar baby story.
I use the Anansi stories and Uncle Remus stories side by side with upper
grades.

  I use the Walt Disney version it's an oversized book with
excellent illustrations.  The dialect in this version is not quite
so heavy, so it is not so difficult to read, yet it still retains
some of the "original flavor."

      Augusta Baker, who was one of the first to be concerned about
the tales, has written an introduction to one of the newer editions.


Deborah Stafford
Gen H.H. Arnold HS
Department of Defense Dependents Schools
Wiesbaden Germany
stafford@email.wiesbaden.army.mil
or  deborah_stafford@ccmail.odedodea.edu