Raised on a Georgia plantation, Joel Chandler Harris began his working life as a printer and became a journalist. After working for papers in Macon, Monroe, and Savannah, in 1876 he joined the staff of the Atlanta Constitution, which, that same year, published his first “Uncle Remus” stories. These adaptations of African-American folktales, notable for their carefully observed dialect, became extremely popular. SLC was enthusiastic about the Uncle Remus tales and considered Harris, in his rendering of African-American language, “the only master the country has produced.” In 1882 SLC approached Harris about joining him and George Washington Cable on a lecture tour, but the pathologically shy Harris was unsuited to public speaking. The two continued to correspond for several years. In 1905 SLC nominated Harris for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.