Book Review: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends From the stories
collected by Joel Chandler Harris Retold by Karima Amin Illustrated by
Eric Copeland (Family Learning, 1999) ISBN: 0-7894-4925-0
Brer Rabbit Redux
by Gary Earl Ross
The 1960s saw a much deserved rejection of traditional
black stereotypes in literature and film. Gone--or going-- were Toms,
Coons, Minstrels, Mammies, and Noble Savages. Among the casualties was
the Uncle Remus stereotype created by Joel Chandler Harris and reinforced
by the Disney motion picture Song of the South. An unfortunate side
effect of the new black consciousness was dismissal of the vast collection
of African folk stories Harris had collected in the 19th Century and first
published in 1878. The Brer Rabbit stories, far from symbolizing slavery
and oppression, are genuine products of African culture and tradition.
That they have been ignored or disregarded by so many modern readers of
color is a great loss. However discomforting Harris' gathering of tales
may be--and reading Uncle Remus is indeed difficult--his work represents
the largest single collection of African-American folk tales ever
published.
Sister Karima Amin, well known storyteller, author, and
teacher, seeks to remedy both this loss and our discomfort with the
publication of The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends. Amin takes
possession of the folk tales--in fact, reclaims them--and retells ten
of them with her own ample gifts for imagery, sound, and humor. Absent is
the degrading Uncle Remus frame, which worked so much subconscious damage
on those of us exposed to these tales in the 40s and 50s. In his place is
Amin's wonderful voice--which translates well to the printed page, even
for those unfortunate enough never to have heard her speak. (In the
kindest of all universes, she will do an audiobook of this.)
Gone also is the degrading imagery I recall from one of my grammar
school readers. Eric Copeland's lavish illustrations distance themselves
from racial stereotype. The Tar Baby, for example, is a faceless mound of
tar, not the black child in my fourth grade reader, and the animals are
dressed in a variety of clothing, not traditional plantation garb.
Without the burdens of the types of images Spike Lee derides in
Bamboozled, the stories are free to be just what they are--object lessons,
histories, entertainments, and, most of all, ours.
The book is further enhanced by a detailed map of Brer Rabbit's
world, complete with footprints indicating the habitats of the animal
characters profiled in the margins; extensive information about real
rabbits, foxes, and the like; and a section on the history of African and
African-American folk tales and slavery. Brer Rabbit and Friends can be
enjoyed by children and adults from all walks of life without rousing
uneasiness, inferiority, or superiority. Amin's only cultural agenda is
to preserve African-American folklore with the respect it deserves. For
that reason alone, the book deserves an honored place on the family
bookshelf.
