Tar-Baby was a doll made of
tarTar is modified resin produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscous black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving and...
and
turpentineTurpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene...
, used to entrap
Br'er RabbitBr'er Rabbit is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the Southern United States...
in the second of the
Uncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation. Usage with respect to a person is likely to be viewed as controversial as it may have other interpretations.
In one tale,
Br'er Fox and Br'er BearBr'er Fox and Br'er Bear are a fictional characters from the Uncle Remus folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris.In the animated sequences of the 1946 Walt Disney-produced film Song of the South, Br'er Fox is the primary villain, while Br'er Bear is his sidekick...
construct a doll out of a lump of tar and dressed it with some clothes.
Tar-Baby was a doll made of
tarTar is modified resin produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscous black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving and...
and
turpentineTurpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene...
, used to entrap
Br'er RabbitBr'er Rabbit is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the Southern United States...
in the second of the
Uncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation. Usage with respect to a person is likely to be viewed as controversial as it may have other interpretations.
Story
In one tale,
Br'er Fox and Br'er BearBr'er Fox and Br'er Bear are a fictional characters from the Uncle Remus folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris.In the animated sequences of the 1946 Walt Disney-produced film Song of the South, Br'er Fox is the primary villain, while Br'er Bear is his sidekick...
construct a doll out of a lump of tar and dressed it with some clothes. When Br'er Rabbit comes along he addresses the tar "baby" amiably, but receives no response. Br'er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the Tar Baby's lack of manners, punches it, and in doing so becomes stuck. Now that Br'er Rabbit is stuck, Br'er Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless, but cunning, Br'er Rabbit pleads, "Please don't throw me in the briar patch," prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br'er Rabbit escapes. Using the phrases "please don't throw me in the briar patch" and "tar baby" to refer to the idea of "a problem that gets worse the more one struggles against it" became part of the wider culture of the United States in the mid-20th century. The story was originally published in
Harper's WeeklyHarper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
by
Robert RooseveltRobert Barnwell Roosevelt, also known as Robert Barnhill Roosevelt , was a Congressman from New York ....
; years later
Joel Chandler HarrisJoel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years...
wrote of the tar baby in his
Uncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
stories. A similar tale from African folklore in
GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa which borders Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
has the trickster
AnansiAnansi the trickster is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. He is also known as Anase, Kweku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man...
in the role of Br'er Rabbit.
Term
Although the term's provenance arose in African folklore, some Americans now consider "tar baby" to have negative connotations revolving around negative images of African-Americans. In recent years, several politicians who have publicly used the term have encountered some controversy, mocking, and censure from African-American civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians.
In an interview,
Toni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters...
said the following of its use in her book, in an acting of reclaiming: "Tar Baby is also a name, like 'nigger,' that white people call black children, black girls, as I recall…. At one time, a tar pit was a holy place, at least an important place, because tar was used to build things…. It held together things like Moses' little boat and the pyramids. For me, the tar baby came to mean the black woman who can hold things together."
Disney
Walt Disney StudiosWalt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company:Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since 1954 were released under the name of the parent company, then named Walt Disney...
released
Song of the SouthSong of the South is a feature film produced by Walt Disney, released on November 12, 1946, by RKO Radio Pictures and based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the adventures...
, which contains the Tar-Baby story, in 1946. The film was never released on VHS in North America due to issues relating to race. Currently Disney is considering releasing the film on DVD. The ride
Splash MountainSplash Mountain is a log flume attraction at three Walt Disney Parks, based on characters, stories, and songs from the 1946 Disney film Song of the South...
, which is in three of the
Walt Disney theme parkWalt Disney Parks and Resorts is the segment of The Walt Disney Company that conceives, builds, and manages the company's theme parks and holiday resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises...
s, is based on the stories by
Uncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
. However, instead of the Tar-Baby, Br'er rabbit is captured in a beehive. The changes were made most likely to avoid similar racial controversies that plagued
Song of the South from being released on home video.
The Tar Baby was featured as one of the guests in House of Mouse.
Tar Baby also appears in the Toontown countryside in
Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Steven Spielberg and based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures, under the Touchstone banner and co-produced by Amblin Entertainment...
.
Related stories
Variations on the tar baby legend are spread among the folklores of more than one culture. In the
Journal of American Folklore, Aurelio M. Espinosa examined 267 versions of the tar baby story. The mythical
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
n hero
AnansiAnansi the trickster is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. He is also known as Anase, Kweku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man...
is recorded as once being similarly trapped.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/jas/jas021.htm In a
Spanish languageSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
version told in the mountainous parts of
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
, an unnamed rabbit is trapped by the "Muñeco de Brea" (tar doll). A Buddhist myth tells of Prince Five-weapons (the Future Buddha) who encounters the
ogreAn ogre is a large, cruel and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and no folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature. In art, ogres are often depicted with a large head,...
, Sticky Hair, in a forest.
The Tar Baby theme is present in the lores in various tribes of Meso-America and of South America : it is to be found such stories as the Nahuatl (of Mexico) "Lazy Boy and Little Rabbit" (González Casanova 1946, pp. 55–67), Pipil (of El Salvador) "Rabbit and Little Fox" (Schultes 1977, pp. 113–116), and Palenquero (of Colombia) "Rabbit, Toad, and Tiger" (Patiño Rosselli 1983, pp. 224–229).
According to James Mooney in "Myths of the Cherokee", the tar baby story may have been influenced in America by the Cherokee "Tar Wolf" story, which is unlikely to have been derived from similar African stories: "Some of these animal stories are common to widely separated [Native American] tribes among whom there can be no suspicion of [African] influences. Thus the famous "tar baby" story has variants, not only among the Cherokee, but also in New Mexico, Washington [State], and southern Alaska—wherever, in fact, the pine supplies enough gum to be molded into a ball for [Native American] uses...". In the Tar Wolf story, the animals were thirsty during a dry spell, and agreed to dig a well. The lazy rabbit refused to help dig, and so had no right to drink from the well. But she was thirsty, and stole from the well at night. The other animals fashioned a wolf out of tar and placed it near the well to scare the thief. The rabbit was scared at first, but when the tar wolf did not respond to her questions, she struck it and was held fast. Then she struggled with it and became so ensnared that she couldn't move. The next morning, the animals discovered the rabbit and proposed various ways of killing her, such as cutting her head off, and the rabbit responded to each idea saying that it would not harm her. Then an animal suggested throwing the rabbit into the thicket to die. At this, the rabbit protested vigorously and pleaded for her life. The animals threw the rabbit into the thicket. The rabbit then gave a whoop and bounded away, calling out to the other animals "This is where I live!".