It's really a shame. The Br'er Rabbit character is a staple of African culture and African American culture and rebellion against the slave masters. The Bre'r Rabbit character was passed down by oral tradition and precedes the novels written by Joel Chandler Harris (who because he is white some say is racist)
"
The Br'er Rabbit stories can be traced back to
trickster figures in Africa, particularly the
hare that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in
West,
Central, and
Southern Africa. These tales continue to be part of the traditional folklore of numerous peoples throughout those regions. In the
Akan traditions of West Africa, the trickster is usually the spider
Anansi, though the plots in his tales are often identical with those of stories of Br'er Rabbit.
[4] However, Anansi does encounter a tricky rabbit called "Adanko" (Asante-Twi to mean "Hare") in some stories. The Jamaican character with the same name "Brer Rabbit", is an adaptation of the Ananse stories of the Akan people.
[5]
The
African savanna hare (
Lepus microtis) found all over
sub-Saharan Africa: the original Br'er Rabbit.
Some scholars have suggested that in his American incarnation, Br'er Rabbit represented the
enslaved Africans who used their wits to overcome adversity and to exact revenge on their adversaries, the white slave owners.
[6] Though not always successful, the efforts of Br'er Rabbit made him a folk hero. However, the trickster is a multidimensional character. While he can be a hero, his amoral nature and his lack of any positive restraint can make him into a villain as well.
[7]
For both Africans and African Americans, the animal trickster represents an extreme form of behavior that people may be forced to adopt in extreme circumstances in order to survive."
The trickster is not to be admired in every situation. He is an example of what to do, but also an example of what not to do. The trickster's behavior can be summed up in the common African proverb: "It's trouble that makes the monkey chew on
hot peppers." In other words, sometimes people must use extreme measures in extreme circumstances.
[8] Several elements in the Brer Rabbit Tar Baby story (e.g., rabbit needing to be taught a lesson, punching and head butting the rabbit, the stuck rabbit being swung around and around) are reminiscent of those found in a Zimbabwe-Botswana folktale.
[9]
Folklorists in the late 19th century first documented evidence that the American versions of the stories originated among enslaved West Africans based on connections between Br'er Rabbit and
Leuk, a rabbit trickster in
Senegalese folklore.
[7][10] The stories of Br'er Rabbit were written down by
Robert Roosevelt, an uncle of US President
Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography about his aunt from the
State of Georgia, that "She knew all the 'Br'er Rabbit' stories, and I was brought up on them. One of my uncles, Robert Roosevelt, was much struck with them, and took them down from her dictation, publishing them in
Harper's, where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br'er_Rabbit
Wait figured it out!
