Uncle Tomisms

Campus Report ^ | January 15, 2008 | Bethany Stotts

[bs9021]

Uncle Tomisms

Bethany Stotts, January 15, 2008

Uncle Tom was commonly used as a pejorative insult during the civil rights movement, denoting an African American who had betrayed his own kind in favor of stability, argued Professor Kim Wallace-Sanders at the 2007 Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention. She said, “During the civil rights movement, to be called an Uncle Tom was perhaps the most severe insult [one] could receive from a fellow African American, with the connotative derogatory shorthand for everyone who had” betrayed the civil rights movement, caving in to white pressure. And so, she argues, the term came to signify “a shuffling, mumbling acceptance of inferiority.” However, the Emory professor argues, such portrayals share little connection to the original character within Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous Uncle Tom’s Cabin....

The ever-aging depictions of Uncle Tom seem to parallel post-Civil war conceptions of the newly emancipated slaves, Morgan argues. “The Tom hugged by little Eva in the 1852 illustration was a far cry from the old geezer she read to on the cover of many turn-of-the-century children’s books,” she writes. Morgan adds “Although Eva remained an idealized child, Tom, once a virile father, grew old, stooped, and white-haired. Tom seemed dependent on the tiny girl.” In this way, the message of independence and strength that was once Uncle Tom’s was transfigured into a picture of black dependency....

The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “Uncle Tom” as either “a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites” or “a member of a low-status group who is overly subservient to or cooperative with authority.” The latter definition is derived from a comment by the radical feminist actress, Jane Fonda, who the dictionary quotes as saying “the worst floor managers and supervisors by far are women…Some of them are regular Uncle Toms.”

[DManA]

Rush is calling the Black leaders supporting Hillary over Obama “Uncle Bills”. LOL

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

“during the civil rights movement, denoting an African American”

During the Civil Rights movement, there were no African Americans (or even African-Americans!). There were a lot of Blacks, tho.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Har, that’s great.

[Verginius Rufus]

Actually, if you go back to King’s speeches, the normal term then was “Negro.” The Black Muslims didn’t like the word Negro, and eventually “Black” replaced it, but not until after the heyday of the civil rights movement. The term “Afro-American” also enjoyed a vogue.

[RightWhale]

Probably everybody has the book within arms reach and probably nobody has read past the first chapter.

[AbeKrieger]

As long as Uncle Jesse, Uncle Al, and Uncle Louis are representin’ black interests, they can remain disgruntled, self-hating victims for many more years.