is UNCLE TOM a true hero?

Black_Power · (#1 (**permalink**))

I getting tired of seeing the word 'Uncle Tom' used amongst our people to imply that a black person is sucking up to the white people when in the story of Uncle Tom, he DIED because he wouldn't snitch on another slave and was whipped to death...He was LOVED amongst other slaves since he would help weaker slaves out by helping them get their cotton quota up for the day...

So before you use the word 'Uncle Tom' again, please read the following article...

uncle tom's cabin or life of the lowly

alabamagirl · (#2 (**permalink**))

I've heard of this story. The origins are not known to a lot of African Americans. But I think many blacks who call other blacks Uncle Tom is because many of them believe whites are superior and better than black people.

Gmahogany777 · (#3 (**permalink**))

I have read the book and I think that the term Uncle Tom as generally applied, is accurate. I think sometimes people confuse the term with the term 'sell out". An Uncle Tom is not necessarily a Black person who seeks or goes out of his way to harm other Black folks, but rather a Black person who is overly concerned with the well being of white people,(which can and often DOES turn into harming Black folks, but that's not automatic).

I think it's interesting btw, that there is always an assumption,(even among some Negroes), that Black folks aren't/weren't bright enough to read the book and analyze the characters and come to their OWN conclusions about the character, in spite of what the author intended people to conclude about the character. FIrst thing you must understand is that the book was not written FOR BLack people. It was written for white people, they were the intended audience. ONce you understand that, you're on your way to understanding a lot of the disdain and contempt that Blacks historically had towards the main character in the book.

The character in the book was extremely pious and "Christian", and even when his evil master Simon Legree was about to kill him, he was more concerned about protecting his master's soul than his own well being. THAT, is where a lot of the contempt for the character came from, among Black people. Legree is about to kill him and Tom says something to the effect of, "if taking every drop of my blood from my body would save your soul Master I would be glad to give it to you. I would give you my heart if it would save your soul......"blah blah blah.

It was Tom's loyalty and faithfulness to his master that caused Blacks to view the character with contempt. As well as his admitted pride in being able to pick more cotton than his slave counterparts and other cringeworthty sentiments,lol.

The book was loosely based on a real man named Josiah Henson, but the white woman who wrote the book, Harriet Beecher STowe, was an abolitionist. She PURPOSELy made the Tom character a long suffering, faithful, passive,loyal servant to his white master because she was trying to turn white public opinion against slavery. In other words, she wanted white folks to think:"look at how loyal and faithful and Christian that slave was, even when his master was mistreating him so badly".

In other words, the Uncle Tom character was the ORIGINAL Magical N*gger. That Black person with MYSTICAL powers who has the ability and the greatest DESIRE to SAVE white people from themselves/prick their consciences/save their souls, ad nauseam. We've seen that prototype played out in REAL LIFE among some Black "leaders" historically, as well as in movies like the Green mIle, and anything with Morgan Freeman in it.

So I will continue to use the term, and I know exactly what I mean, when I do use it.

Sa-Ptah · (#4 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gmahogany777

So I will continue to use the term, and I know exactly what I mean, when I do use it.

I'm arrogant. I don't give compliments. However, I'm about to for the second time this year...and it's only February.

VERY insightful post. Good thing to see that there are some 'thinkers' here.

I must be getting soft.

Hotep.

Gmahogany777 · (#5 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sa-Ptah

I'm arrogant. I don't give compliments. However, I'm about to for the second time this year...and it's only February.

VERY insightful post. Good thing to see that there are some 'thinkers' here.

I must be getting soft.

Hotep.

............

Gmahogany777 · (#6 (**permalink**))

I found the exact quote that I alluded to. It's from the chapter called 'The Martyr'. It was the exchange between Tom and his "master" right before his master killed him. Apparently his master wasn't persuaded by all of his Christian platitudes......

Tom looked up to his master, and answered, "Mas'r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I'd give ye my heart's blood; and, if taking
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-583-

every drop of blood in this poor old body would save your precious soul, I'd give 'em freely, as the Lord gave his for me. O, Mas'r! don't bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than 't will me! Do the worst you can, my troubles'll be over soon; but, if ye don't repent, yours won't never end!"

Gmahogany777 · (#7 (**permalink**))

If you want to get an idea of what the AA response to the novel was, at the time it was first published, about 1852 or so(which one would think would be where people would start, rather than assuming that AA's just pulled the Uncle Tom perjorative/insult concept out of their asses without putting any thought into it), there is plenty of documentation. There is a book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin A Black Antebellum Response, by Marva Banks. You could also check out the writings of people like Frederick Douglas and Martin Delaney, and others. Most of these people were former slaves, themselves.

Most AA's at the time, thought the book was positive, because they felt it aided their anti-slavery struggle, but even at that, you can hardly find any Black people at the time, who thought that the "Tom" character was positive. Real hardcore dudes, like Martin Delaney and others felt that "the Tom character needs to be killed", and stated that in their writings. They felt that the Tom character was not something Black folks should be emulating in their freedom struggle. Delaney and others, felt that the underlying message of the novel was that, for Black folks, SUBSERVIENCE was the way to overcome TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION(that is indeed what the underlying message of the novel was,btw) , and they weren't having that sh*t.

Beyond that, most Blacks at the time, had enough intelligence to pick up on the PRO-COLONIZATION theme that ran through the novel. That was the movement that sought to round AA's up and send us back to Africa or to Haiti, so white folks wouldn't have to deal with us in a FREE condition, and even in 1852 a FREE condition is where AA's were headed towards and most Crackers KNEW this, thus the popularity of the colonization movement. When prominent Blacks of the time like Fredecrick Douglass wrote to Harriet Beecher Stowe to get her to clarify her position on the matter, and denounce colonization, she denied that she was pro colonization, but then proceeded a few years later to write another novel, promoting that "solution". Additionally, stories circulated among prominent Blacks at the time, that Ms. Stowe treated Blacks very condescendingly,patronizingly, and generally not good, whenever she came into contact with actual Black people This just confirmed to many AA's at the time that the uneasy vibe they had about the book and the main character, AND the true intentions of the author, were on the money.

Stowe, like most white abolitionists, objected to slavery on a religious or moral basis, but DID NOT view Blacks as their equals, and DID NOT have any desire to be around Blacks in any thing approximating equality. In other words, her objection to slavery, or even the mistreatment of Blacks, HAD NOTHING TO DO with liking Black folks or even viewing them as equals. That is a lesson that some modern day Black folks have yet to learn,btw....

So, you had Blacks who were former slaves, who were intelligent and insightful enough to pick up on the: inconsistencies, condescension,patronizing tone, and less than pure "good intentions" in both the novel and the author, yet you have modern day Negroes,(like the moron who wrote the article featured at the beginning of this thread,if he is indeed Black), who SWEAR they are SO smart, but couldn't peep the things that supposedly uneducated, dumb slaves(in the minds of some of these modern day Negroes who think they are so smart and actually look down on their enslaved ancestors), fresh off the plantation were able to peep......Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........