Uncle Tom : from martyr to traitor / Adena Spingarn

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Object Details

author
Spingarn, Adena 1981-
Subject
Uncle Tom (Fictitious character)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher 1811-1896 Uncle Tom's cabin
Stowe, Harriet Beecher 1811-1896 Adaptations History and criticism
NMAFREF copy 39088020220208 purchased with funds from the S. Dillon Ripley Endowment.
Contents
Introduction -- A manly hero -- Uncle Tom on the American stage -- Uncle Tom and Jim Crow -- Writing the old Negro -- Uncle Toms and new Negroes -- Writing off Uncle Tom -- Conclusion : twentieth-century Uncle Toms
Summary
This book charts the cultural transformation of perhaps the most controversial literary character in American history. From his origins as the heroic, Christ-like protagonist of Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom has become an epithet for a black person deemed so subservient to whites that he betrays his race. Readers have long noted that Stowe's character is not the traitorous sycophant that his name connotes today. The author traces his evolution in the American imagination. We learn of the radical political potential of the novel's many theatrical spinoffs even in the Jim Crow era, Uncle Tom's breezy disavowal by prominent voices of the Harlem Renaissance, and a developing critique of "Uncle Tom roles" in Hollywood. Within the stubborn American binary of black and white, citizens have used this rhetorical figure to debate the boundaries of racial difference and the legacy of slavery. Through Uncle Tom, black Americans have disputed various strategies for racial progress and defined the most desirable and harmful images of black personhood in literature and popular culture.
2018
Type
Books
Criticism, interpretation, etc
History
Physical description
xii, 252 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Place
United States
Smithsonian Libraries
Topic
African Americans in literature--History
Stereotypes (Social psychology) in literature--History
American literature--Social aspects--History
Racism--History
Race relations
History
Record ID
siris_sil_1107988
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0