“My earliest memory that I was the descendant of Joel Chandler
Harris was in the second or third grade,” reported Annette
Harris Shakespeare. “Our grandparents, Lucien and Louise,
made sure we knew we were his great-great-grandchildren.”
“Joel Chandler Harris was our grandpa’s grandpa,” Linda
explained. “That’s how I explain it to children to make it easier
to understand.”
Annette continued, “Being his descendants made us very
proud; I am still proud. Grandma Louise gave all the cousins—
five of us—a scrapbook of the photos of our ancestors all the
way back to Joel Chandler Harris. And, she had the ones still
alive sign the scrapbooks. We would talk about each one and
then go visit them. Our favorite was Uncle Evelyn because he
gave us M&Ms. We might not be all that excited about going to
visit our elders, but Evelyn made us all smile. And you can see it
in the pictures.”
Linda shared another memory. “When the movie ‘The Song
of the South’ came out, it was a big deal for us as young girls
at Glennwood Elementary School in Decatur. Granddaddy
Lucien represented the Harris family in the negotiation of the
movie’s contract. He knew Walt Disney. But the movie was put
into the Disney vault before we had a chance to see it. So we
wrote a letter to Walt Disney asking him to send us a copy. He
sent it, and our daddy (Robin Harris) rented the entire Decatur
Theatre. I think it might have been somebody’s birthday. We
invited all our friends to come to the private showing. Disney
wrote a letter to both of us wanting to know what we thought of
the movie. It is a letter you frame and hang on your wall!”
“I remember granddaddy Lucien talking about his time as
a boy with his granddaddy, Joel. He was only nine when Joel
died,” said Linda.
“That’s right,” added Annette. “He remembered sitting beside
him as he typed. One time, Harris pulled the typewritten story
out of the typewriter and read it to young Lucien, something
Joel normally never did.”
As Linda described, “He was a prankster and loved playing
jokes on people. He gave all his kids nicknames. He called Lucien
‘Tootsie;’ Mildred and Lillian he called ‘Billy’ and ‘Tommy.’
It was just a part of his shy but mischievous style. And it made
him such a popular writer.”
“Granddaddy Lucien worked for the Macmillan Company
Publishers and would visit schools throughout the state,”
described Annette. “He would bring books and read the Uncle
Remus stories with the full dialect. He also told great stories
about Harris taken from his daughter-in-law Julia Harris’ book
on Harris’ life. Grandmother taped his school presentations
on a reel-to-reel tape recorder so after he was no longer able
to visit schools, we would play the tapes for students to hear as
they read along in their copy of the Uncle Remus stories.”
Linda and Annette have more stories in their hearts about
their celebrated family heritage than can be contained in a short
article. They and their families remain active participants in
maintaining the Harris legacy through The Wren’s Nest. Both
have served on the board, as have some of their children. “The
Harris tradition is preserving the story,” they both said, “and
we feel proud to be a Harris and honored to help keep alive the
stories Harris heard as a boy at Turnwold Plantation.”
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