In 1882, according to Mark Twain, a group of children who were invited to the New Orleans home of George Washington Cable to meet the newly famous author of "Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby" were doubly disappointed. Not only was Joel Chandler Harris too shy to read his tale to this small admiring public but also he was of the wrong race. When the children were introduced, they exclaimed in disappointment, " 'Why, he's white!'" Not only these New Orleans children but also his adult audiences persisted in identifying this shy Georgia author with his relaxed voluble narrator Uncle Remus. At last Harris acceded to his public and retreated almost completely behind that mask or persona. He never addressed any public gathering in his life, and he became Uncle Remus to the world.

The implications of this anecdote explain in part the decline in popularity of Harris's stories for...