Swing South

Last stop before reaching the family, the Uncle Remus Museum. There were no pictures allowed inside, which is unfortunate because besides the nice collection of books, newspaper articles, and various dolls, there were two still cells from the Disney movie Song of the South, which the docent said had been donated by Walt Disney shortly after the museum opened.

It's a small place in the home town of Joel Chandler Harris, the man responsible for collecting and writing the Brer stories in the nineteenth century. The docent, and elderly local woman named Georgia, was informative and funny. She was really put out over the fact that the Disney and pop culture in general has made these stories disappear, since they were representative of African-American folk culture. This led to a discussion of how we can't forget our history, anyone's history, even if it's unpleasant to us now. As a smart friend is fond of saying-- history doesn't care about your feelings.

Great museum, great docent, who had a wicked sense of humor and loved putting her "guests" as she referred to the visitors through their paces. Asked a lot of questions, and thankfully I knew most of the answers. My traveling companions... useless.

And we bought a copy of Disney's "Song of the South" on DVD. Bob Iger, Chairman of Disney Corp-- his head probably exploded when that exchange took place.

The museum wouldn't be as good without Miss Georgia there, so when she goes (she's eighty-five but spritely), I don't know how it will fare.Read more