Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my oh my what a wonderful day! There’s plenty of history heading your way, because Uncle Remus is our topic today.

This movie has unfairly been canceled by Disney executives and other squeamish wokies in modernity, and very unjustly. While a few scenes in the movie are not quite up to modern standards against racism—for instance, the handling of the character of Toby (the black boy who forms one of the movie’s child threesome) could have been a little better. It was, however, most certainly a visionary and historic movie. At a time when there was still strong prejudice against black actors in Hollywood, mega-celebrity Walt Disney, winner of more Oscars than any other individual in history, chose to star James Baskett in a blockbuster movie. 

Related: Walt Disney, Patriot and Lover of American Rights

As Baskett himself said, “I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension, than can ever possibly come out of the Song of the South.” In his letter to the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, requesting the honorary Oscar that was ultimately awarded Baskett, Walt Disney praised Baskett for bringing to life an “immortal folktale character” and described the actor as “a very understanding person and very much the gentleman.” 

It is also worth noting that “Song of the South” also featured the first black actress to win an Academy Award, Hattie McDaniel. Thus the movie brought together two of the most iconic black actors of the era.

James Baskett not only played Uncle Remus, he also voiced Br’er Fox and sang the iconic song that has been delighting fans for decades: “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” Unfortunately, Disneyland recently axed Splash Mountain, which was themed from the “Song of the South,” and replaced it with a Princess Tiana ride that has disappointed most fans. But even Disney cannot cancel Baskett entirely. His name will always be in the history books as the first black man to receive an Academy Award, and deservedly so. As Walt Disney recognized and argued to the Oscar committee so strongly, Baskett’s performance and his professionalism in general were excellent and timeless. 

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” will always be one of the beloved Disney classic songs, and the man who sang it first and best is truly not only a Disney Legend, but an American legend.