View source for Br'er Rabbit

{{Short description|Fictional rabbit in Uncle Remus folklore}}
{{Redirect|Brer Rabbit|the musician|Flobots}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Br'er Rabbit
| image = Br'er Rabbit and Tar-Baby.jpg
| image_size = 267px
| caption = Br'er Rabbit and the [[Tar-Baby]], drawing by [[E. W. Kemble]] from "The Tar-Baby", by [[Joel Chandler Harris]], 1904
| first = 19th century <br />''[[Song of the South]]'' (1946)
| creator = Traditional, [[Robert Roosevelt]], [[Joel Chandler Harris]], [[Alcée Fortier]]
| voice = {{Plain list|
* [[Johnny Lee (actor)|Johnny Lee]] (''[[Song of the South]]'' and ''Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party''<ref>[http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/spin-special-stan-freberg-records/ "A Spin Special: Stan Freberg Records"]. Retrieved 2017-09-21.</ref>)
* [[James Baskett]] (The Laughing Place sequence in ''Song of the South''<ref>[https://www.mouseplanet.com/10181/The_Song_of_the_South_Frequently_Asked_Questions "The Song of the South Frequently Asked Questions"]. Retrieved 2017-09-22.</ref>)
* [[Art Carney]] (''Walt Disney's Song Parade from Disneyland''<ref>[http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walt-disneys-song-parade-from-disneyland-on-golden-records/ "Walt Disney's Song Parade from Disneyland on Golden Records"]. Retrieved 2017-09-26.</ref>)
* [[Dallas McKennon]] (record releases)
* [[Jess Harnell]] (1989–present)
* [[Nick Cannon]] ([[The Adventures of Brer Rabbit|2006 adaptation]])
}}
| alias = Riley, Compair Lapin
| species = Rabbit
| occupation = Trickster
| gender = Male
}}

'''Br'er Rabbit''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|ɛər}} {{respell|BRAIR}}; an abbreviation of ''Brother Rabbit'', also spelled '''Brer Rabbit''') is a central figure in an [[oral tradition]] passed down by [[African Americans|African-Americans]] of the [[Southern United States]] and African descendants in the [[Caribbean]], notably [[Afro-Bahamians]] and [[Turks and Caicos Islanders]]. He is a [[trickster]] who succeeds by his [[wit]]s rather than by brawn, provoking authority figures and bending social [[mores]] as he sees fit. Popular adaptations of the character, originally recorded by [[Joel Chandler Harris]] in the 19th century, include [[Walt Disney Pictures|Walt Disney Productions]]' ''[[Song of the South]]'' in 1946.

== African origins ==
[[File:Brer Rabbit dream, 1881.jpg|thumb|237px|Br'er Rabbit's dream, from ''Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation'', 1881]]
The Br'er Rabbit stories can be traced back to [[trickster]] figures in Africa, particularly the [[African savanna hare|hare]] that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in [[West Africa|West]], [[Central Africa|Central]], and [[Southern Africa]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=1030 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041024090438/http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=1030 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 24, 2004 |title=Brer Rabbit and Ananse Stories from Africa (article) by Peter E Adotey Addo on AuthorsDen |publisher=Authorsden.com |access-date=July 3, 2010 }}</ref> Among the [[Temne people|Temne]] people in [[Sierra Leone]], they tell children stories of a talking rabbit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollitzer |first1=William |title=The Gullah People and Their African Heritage |date=2005 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=9780820327839 |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2efDSQdNq-cC&q=Rabbit}}</ref> Other regions of Africa also tell children stories of talking rabbits and other animals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abrahams |first1=Roger |title=African Folktales |date=2011 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=9780307803191 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9Lr0DeZL9oC&q=rabbit}}</ref> These tales continue to be part of the traditional folklore of numerous peoples throughout those regions. In the [[Akan people|Akan tradition]]s 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. However, Anansi does encounter a tricky rabbit called "Adanko" ([[Asante dialect|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pariser |first1=Harry |title=Jamaica A Visitor's Guide |date=1990 |publisher=Hunter |isbn=9781556502538 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Acgfn5NPokoC&dq=Brer+Rabbit+in+Jamaica&pg=PA221}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Emily |title=American Trickster Trauma, Tradition and Brer Rabbit |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield International |isbn=9781783481118 |pages=59–60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SvJDwAAQBAJ&dq=Brer+Rabbit+in+Jamaica&pg=PA59}}</ref>

[[File:Smit.Lepus crawshayi.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The [[African savanna hare]] (''Lepus microtis'') found in many regions on the African continent: the original Br'er Rabbit.]]

Some scholars have suggested that in his American incarnation, Br'er Rabbit represented the [[slavery|enslaved]] Africans who used their wits to overcome adversity and to exact revenge on their adversaries, the white slave owners.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levine |first=Lawrence |title=Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom |url=https://archive.org/details/blackcultureblac00levi |url-access=registration |year=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-502088-5 }}</ref> Though not always successful, the efforts of Br'er Rabbit made him a [[folk hero]].

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.<ref name="Smith 1989">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Alexander McCall |title=The Girl Who Married A Lion and Other Tales from Africa |year=1989 |publisher=Pantheon Books, NY |pages=185–89}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Arnold 1996">{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Albert |title=Monsters, Tricksters, and Sacred Cows: Animal Tales and American Identities |year=1996 |publisher=University of Virginia Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=M'Baye |first=Babacar |author-link=Babacar M'Baye |title=The Trickster Comes West: Pan-African Influence in Early Black Diasporan Narratives |year=2009 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi}}</ref>

==American adaptations==
Stories of Br'er Rabbit were written down by [[Robert Roosevelt]], an uncle of U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his [[Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography|autobiography]] about his aunt from [[State of Georgia|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 Magazine|Harper's]]'', where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal."

[[File:Eatonton ga-brer rabbit-2.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[Eatonton, Georgia]]'s statue of Br'er Rabbit]]

Some stories were also adapted by [[Joel Chandler Harris]] (1845–1908) for white audiences in the late 19th century. Harris invented [[Uncle Remus]], an ex-slave narrator, as a storyteller and published many such stories that had been passed down by oral tradition. He claimed his stories were "the first graphic pictures of genuine negro life in the South."<ref name="Ritterhouse">Ritterhouse, Jennifer. “Reading, Intimacy, and the Role of Uncle Remus in White Southern Social Memory.” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 69, no. 3, 2003, pp. 585–622. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30040011. Accessed 9 June 2021.</ref> Harris also attributed the birth name ''Riley'' to Br'er Rabbit.{{Citation needed||date=June 2021}} Harris heard these tales in Georgia. Very similar versions of the same stories were recorded independently at the same time by the folklorist [[Alcée Fortier]] in southern [[Louisiana]], where the Rabbit character was known as ''Compair Lapin'' in [[Louisiana Creole|Creole]]. It has been argued that Beatrix Potter based her [[Peter Rabbit]] tales on Brer Rabbit.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/19/origin-of-beatrix-potter-tales-african-folklore-brer-rabbit | title=Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit story originated in African folktales, expert argues | newspaper=The Guardian | date=19 May 2023 | last1=Knight | first1=Lucy }}</ref>

== Indigenous American parallels ==
In a detailed study of the sources of Joel Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" stories, Florence Baer identified 140 stories with African origins, 27 stories with European origins, and 5 stories with Native American origins.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Baer
 |first=Florence
 |date=1980
 |title=Sources and Analogues of the Uncle Remus Tales
 |publisher=Folklore Fellows Communications
 |isbn= 9514103742
}}</ref>

Although [[Joel Chandler Harris]] collected materials for his famous series of books featuring the character Br'er Rabbit in the 1870s, the Br'er Rabbit cycle had been recorded earlier among the [[Cherokee]]s: The "[[tar baby]]" story was printed in an 1845 edition of the ''Cherokee Advocate'', the same year Joel Chandler Harris was born.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/featured/tales.htm |title=Cherokee Tales and Disney Films Explored |publisher=Powersource.com |date=June 15, 1996 |access-date=July 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524063615/http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/featured/tales.htm |archive-date=May 24, 2011 }}</ref>

Algonquin Nations in Eastern North America similarly depict rabbits and hares as cunning and witty. Many stories of rabbits' or hares' wit include connections to the trickster, shapeshifter sometimes referred to as [[Nanabozho]].

In "That the People Might Live: Native American Literatures and Native American Community" by Jace Weaver, the origins of Br'er Rabbit and other literature are discussed. Although the Cherokee had lived in isolation from Europeans in the remote past, a substantial amount of interaction was to occur among North American tribes, Europeans, and those from the enslaved population during the 18th and 19th centuries. It is impossible to ascertain whether the Cherokee story independently predated the African American story.

In a Cherokee tale about the briar patch, "the fox and the wolf throw the trickster rabbit into a thicket from which the rabbit quickly escapes."<ref>{{cite journal|year=1990|journal=Latin American Indian Literatures Journal|publisher=Dept. of Foreign Languages at Geneva College|volume=6|page=10|title=The tar-baby motif in a Bocota tale: Blísigi sigabá gule ('the opossum and the agouti')}}</ref> There was a "melding of the Cherokee rabbit-trickster&nbsp;... into the culture of African slaves."<ref>[https://archive.org/details/thatpeoplemightl0000weav/page/4 <!-- quote="brer rabbit" cherokee. --> ''That the People Might Live: Native American Literatures and Native American Community''], p. 4</ref>

== Joel Chandler Harris ==
[[File:Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.jpg|thumb|[[A. B. Frost|A.B. Frost]] illustration of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby from the 1895 version of ''Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings'']]

There are nine books by [[Joel Chandler Harris]] that contain Brer Rabbit stories:

* ''Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings'' (1881), containing 25 Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation'' (1883), containing 52 Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Daddy Jake, the Runaway: And Short Stories Told After Dark'' (1889), containing four Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Uncle Remus and His Friends: Old Plantation Stories, Songs, and Ballads with Sketches of Negro Character'' (1892), containing 11 Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of the Old Plantation'' (1905), containing 13 Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit'' (1907), containing four Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Uncle Remus and the Little Boy'' (1910), containing five Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Uncle Remus Returns'' (1918), containing six Brer Rabbit stories.
* ''Seven Tales of Uncle Remus'' (1948), containing three Brer Rabbit stories.

== Enid Blyton ==
There are eight books by [[Enid Blyton]] that are collections of stories featuring Brer Rabbit and friends, most of which appeared in various magazines in the late 1930s.

* ''Heyo, Brer Rabbit!'' (1938)
* ''The Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit'' (1943)
* ''My Enid Blyton Brer Rabbit Book'' (1948)
* ''Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit Book'' (1963)
* ''Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit Again'' (1963)
* ''Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit's a Rascal'' (1965)
* ''Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit Holiday Adventures'' (1974)
* ''Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit Funtime Adventures'' (1974)

== In popular culture ==

===Early comics===

*In 1902, artist Jean Mohr adapted the ''Uncle Remus'' stories into a two-page comic story titled ''Ole Br'er Rabbit'' for ''[[The North American]]''.<ref name=FunnyAnimal-ch1>{{cite book |last1=Becattini|first1=Alberto|title=American Funny Animal Comics in the 20th Century: Volume One |date=2019 |publisher=Theme Park Press |location=Seattle, WA |isbn=978-1683901860|chapter=Genesis and Early Development}}</ref>
*The [[McClure Newspaper Syndicate]] released a ''Br'er Rabbit'' Sunday strip drawn by J.M. Condé from June 24 to October 7, 1906.<ref name=Holtz>{{cite book |last1=Holtz |first1=Allan |title=American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide |date=2012 |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472117567 |page=83}}</ref>

===Disney version===
[[File:Brer Rabbit Disney screenshot.png|200px|thumb|right|Br'er Rabbit in [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Song of the South]]'' (1946). Disney's version of the character is more stylized and cartoony than the illustrations of Br'er Rabbit in Harris' books.<ref name=Brasch2000/>]]
*The 1946 [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] film ''[[Song of the South]]'' is a [[frame story]] based on three Br'er Rabbit stories, "[[Br'er Rabbit Earns a Dollar a Minute]]", "[[The Laughing Place]]" and "[[The Tar Baby]]". The character of Br'er Rabbit was voiced by [[Johnny Lee (actor)|Johnny Lee]] in the film, and was portrayed as more of a "lovable trickster" than previous tales.<ref name=Brasch2000>Brasch, Walter M. (2000). ''Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, and the 'Cornfield Journalist': The Tale of Joel Chandler Harris''. Mercer University Press. pp. 74, 275.</ref> Disney comics starring that version of Br'er Rabbit have been produced since 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inducks.org/character.php?c=BR&c1=date|title=Brer Rabbit - I.N.D.U.C.K.S.|website=inducks.org|access-date=23 March 2018|archive-date=26 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426153243/https://inducks.org/character.php?c=BR&c1=date|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Splash Mountain]], a thrill ride at [[Tokyo Disneyland]] and formerly at [[Disneyland]] and [[Magic Kingdom]], is based on the above 1946 film's animated segments featuring Br'er Rabbit. Br'er Rabbit also appeared at the [[Walt Disney Parks and Resorts]] for meet-and-greets, parades and shows. He also appears on the television series ''[[House of Mouse]]'' (2001–2003) and in the 2001 direct-to-video ''[[Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse]]'', as well as in the 2011 video game ''[[Kinect: Disneyland Adventures]]''. Starting with the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain in 1989, [[Jess Harnell]] has provided the voice of Br'er Rabbit in all of his modern Disney appearances.
*An ''[[Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit]]'' newspaper strip ran from October 14, 1946, through December 31, 1972.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034715/http://www.cartoonician.com/disneys-uncle-remus-strips/ "Disney’s “Uncle Remus” strips," ''Hogan's Alley'' #16, 2009]</ref>

===Other adaptations and references===
*On April 21, 1972, astronaut [[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]] became the [[List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|ninth person]] to step onto the Moon, and in his first words he stated, "I'm sure glad they got ol' Brer Rabbit, here, back in the briar patch where he belongs."<ref name=briar>{{cite web |title=Back in the Briar Patch |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a16/a16.eva1prelim.html |publisher=Apollo Lunar Surface Journal |access-date=November 27, 2011}}</ref>
*In 1975, the stories were retold for an adult audience in the cult animation film ''[[Coonskin (film)|Coonskin]]'', directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]]. 
*In 1984, American composer [[Van Dyke Parks]] produced a children's album, ''[[Jump! (album)|Jump!]]'', based on the Br'er Rabbit tales.
*A direct-to-video adaptation from Emerald City Productions was released in 1989 and re-released various times in the 1990s, distributed by Family Home Entertainment (F.H.E.).
*[[Rabbit Ears Productions]] produced two Br'er Rabbit tales ('' Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby'' and ''Brer Rabbit and Boss Lion'')
*1998's ''[[Star Trek: Insurrection]]'' saw the ''[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)|Starship Enterprise]]'' enter a region of space called the ''Briar Patch''. At some point during a battle with the Son'a, [[William Riker|Commander Riker]] states that it is "time to use the Briar Patch the way Br'er Rabbit did".
*A direct-to-video film based on the stories, ''[[The Adventures of Brer Rabbit]]'', was released in 2006. [[Nick Cannon]] provides his voice for the character.<ref name =wp>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040602302.html|title=Child's Play
|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2008-08-29| date=2006-04-09}}</ref>
*There is a brand of molasses produced by [[B&G Foods]] named after the character.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bgfoods.com/brands/brer-rabbit|title=B&G Foods}}</ref>
*In [[Sam Kieth]]’s ''[[The Maxx]]'', the character Mr. Gone refers to Maxx as “Br’er Lappin” and indeed Maxx is worried if he removes his mask he will find he has a rabbit's head beneath it.
*In the 1982 film ''[[Savannah Smiles]]'', Savannah tells a story of Brer rabbit to her captors Bootsie and Alvie.
*In the [[Tristan Strong series]], Br'er Rabbit appears as a recurring character. He is depicted as a cynical but well-meaning mentor god.

== See also ==
* [[Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear]]
* [[Gullah language#Storytelling|Gullah storytelling]]
* [[List of Uncle Remus characters]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Backus, Emma M. "Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes". In: ''Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 12 (1899). pp.&nbsp;108–115.
* Edwards, Charles Lincoln. ''Bahama Songs And Stories''. Boston and New York: Pub. by Houghton, Mifflin and company; [etc., etc.], 1895. (Bahaman stories about ''B' Rabby'')
* Fortier, Alcée. and Alexander Street Press. ''Louisiana Folk-tales: In French Dialect And English Translation''. Boston: Pub. for the American folk-lore society, by Houghton, Mifflin and company; [etc., etc.]. 1895. (stories of ''Compair Lapin'' collected in Louisiana)
* [[Vivian Osborne Marsh|Marsh, Vivian Costroma Osborne]]. ''Types And Distribution of Negro Folk-lore In America''. [Berkeley], 1922.
* Storr, Virgil Henry. "B’ Rabby as a 'True-True Bahamian': Rabbyism as Bahamian Ethos and Worldview in the Bahamas. Folk Tradition and the Works of Strachan and Glinton-Meicholas (January 1, 2009)". In: ''Journal of Caribbean Literatures''. Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.&nbsp;121–142, 2009, Available at {{SSRN|1711268}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings|Uncle Remus’ Br'er Rabbit stories}}
{{Commons category|Br'er Rabbit}}
* [http://www.wrensnest.org/ The Wrens Nest 100 Years of Telling Tales]
* Full text of [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/h#a868 Joel Chandler Harris] from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [http://www.americanfolklore.net/brer-rabbit.html Brer Rabbit Stories at AmericanFolklore.net]
* [http://www.bartleby.com/55/1.html Theodore Roosevelt autobiography on Brer Rabbit and his Uncle]
* [https://archive.org/details/BrotherRabbitAndTarBaby Archived audio recording of an educational ArtsSmarts elementary school recording of "Brother Rabbit and Tar Baby"]

{{American tall tales}}
{{Uncle Remus}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Br'er Rabbit| ]]
[[Category:American folklore]]
[[Category:Georgia folklore]]
[[Category:African-American cultural history]]
[[Category:Folklore of the Southern United States]]
[[Category:Rabbits and hares in literature]]
[[Category:Fictional rabbits and hares]]
[[Category:Fictional tricksters]]
[[Category:Song of the South characters]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Male characters in comics]]
[[Category:Male characters in animation]]
[[Category:Characters in American novels of the 19th century]]
[[Category:Disney comics characters]]
[[Category:Short stories about talking animals]]
[[Category:Comics about talking animals]]
[[Category:Animated films about talking animals]]
[[Category:Comics about anthropomorphic rabbits and hares]]
[[Category:Comics about anthropomorphic bears]]
[[Category:Comics set in forests]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1881]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1946]]
[[Category:Comedy literature characters]]
[[Category:Folklore characters]]
[[Category:Trickster gods]]
[[Category:Film characters introduced in 1946]]
[[Category:Animated characters introduced in 1946]]