Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, folklorist, and fiction writer best known for his collections of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, he apprenticed on a plantation where he absorbed the folktales that would later define his literary career. He spent most of his adult life in Atlanta working as an associate editor for the Atlanta Constitution. While celebrated for preserving African American oral traditions, his work remains controversial for its use of dialect and its nostalgic portrayal of the Old South.