What is an Uncle Tom?

I think Harriet Beecher Stowe did an excellent job of illustrating the man and his qualities to the extent that no one else need weigh in on the subject. amazingly the modern day understanding of the term, even by those who have no acquaintance with the novel (life among the lowly), are acutely aware of the truth of the meaning. Yet, there is more to it.

Uncle Tom was as pious and perfected of a spiritual being as any. this is an understanding that many do not comprehend when they use the term. At first, when i found out about the original character, 'Uncle Tom' i felt that the term was being used injudiciously, and in ignorance. As I've researched the book, and read critical theory of the novel, I've come full circle, in that I can find no fault in someone using the term Uncle Tom' to describe... well, an Uncle Tom.

And the issue is quite complex. Granted, Uncle Tom was loyal, pious, moral, ethical, yet, the system of slavery certainly was not. Despite this, Tom had a loyalty to his master, based upon his understanding of the law and the rules of the age and condition in which he found himself. He certainly accepted the fact that he was property, which, on a level, many African-Americans and Whites also accepted, or if they were white, did not involve themselves in, and if they were black, rebelled against in overt or subtle, or even in psychological disloyal ways.

the "good slave" is the slave which best embodies the understanding and attendant actions which demonstrate fealty and all of those high qualities of humanity, merged with the acceptance of being a slave with a master whose fate is one and the same as your own.

The Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, could not be thought of as 'Uncle Tom's' for although they were spiritual, moral, ethical men, they believed that in a law greater than that which simply governs men. They believed in God's law. A law which was known to them (as it was known to Beecher Stowe) through their emotions and their commitment to do God's will, in all ways, first and foremost, in their advocacy for the full brotherhood of all beings regardless of social position, infirmity,disability, or sin.

and so These men could never, would never be 'Uncle Tom's' for their conscience stirred such that they fought, and advocated and were willing to expose themselves to all that be what may, in order to consecrate themselves to a higher, spiritual purpose.

So let us examine a description of Uncle Tom, by Beecher Stowe herself, given by his master, Mr. Shelby in the opening chapter of the book:

"...Tom is an uncommon fellow,...steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock... Tom is a good steady, sensible pious fellow, he got religion at a camp meeting 4 years ago and i believe he rally did get it, I've trusted him since then with everything i have. money house horses and let him come and go around the country and i always found him true and square in everything

"...why last fall I let him go to Cincinnati alone to do business for me and bring home 500 dollars. Tom, I trust you because i think you're a Christian. I know you wouldn't cheat. Tom comes back sure enough. I knew he would. Some low fellows, they say said to him, Tom, why don't you make tracks for Canada? Ahh master trusted me and I couldn't. They told me about it.

Beecher Stowe, would be the last one to defend Uncle Tom as an activist. As a Christian, he needs no defense, in fact, in Beecher Stowe's life as an American, it has been argued that she rejected Perfectionist doctrine, which advocated a rich interior christian life, primarily due to the need to have a marriage with Christ and to give oneself up to do his works.

Tom speaks of the bible, but he also, due to his acting out perfectionist ideology, becomes a martyr. He can not "do wrong" and yet, he also can not "act right". to "act right" as a slave is to reject the idea that humans can become the property of another. and yet, this is where politics enters religion, for the education of a slave was not a liberal arts one, it was as a member of the slave-labor class. It was as a member of a intergenerational caste of Stockholm syndrome devotee's.

and the Stockholm syndrome can be an excellent framework from which to help the imagination to understand the psychology of Uncle Tom.

Stockholm Syndrome is survival based, and can begin to manifest very quickly, within a few days. and can be found in any situation where the abused is dependent on the abuser in any essential way. it can be found in; abused children, battered spouses, prisoners of war, cult members, incest victims, hostages, concentration camp prisoners, etc.

there are four situations or conditions that serve as a foundation for the syndrome:
1. the presence of a perceived threat to one's physical or psychological survival and the belief that the abuser would carry out the threat
2. the presence of a perceived small kindness from the abuser to the victim
3. isolation from perspectives that differ from those of the abuser.
4. the perceived inability to escape from the situation.

the main manifestations of the syndrome are:
1. positive feelings for the abuser
2. negative feelings by the victim towards family, friends, or authorities trying to win their release
3. supportive behaviors by the victim to help the abuser
4. inability to engage in behaviors that may assist in their release or detachment from such efforts.

this is what A. Philip Randolph was referring to in his epic fight and victory as the leader of the Pullman car porters union:

A. Philip Randolph, at the beginning and the midst of the struggle, understood the psychology he was batting against:

From The Messenger, New York: August 1925: [from] Pullman Porters Need Own Union

Uncle Tom's

"The handicap under which the porters are now laboring are due to the fact that there are too many Uncle Toms in the service. With their slave psychology they bow and kowtow and lick the boots of the Company officials, who either pity or despise them. The company uses these me-too-boss, hat-in-hand porters to spy on the independent manly men. They are always afraid that somebody will rock the boat, that the good white folks will get mad. They are always singing to let well enough alone, even though they be kicked and spat upon; that the time isn't ripe for the porters to stand up like men. The officials know this, the white employees on the railroad know this and the public knows it. This sort of porters who have a wishbone where a backbone ought to be, must be brushed aside and made to understand that their day has passed, never to return. It is reported that Frank Walsh, Chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee, indicated that it was obvious upon cross-examining the Pullman porters during the Congressional investigation of the Pullman Company, that the porters had been coached. And naturally, because their transportation had been given them by the Company. They testified in favor of the Company and against themselves and their fellow workers. Happily, however, this type of porter is gradually losing his influence."

Beecher-Stowe knew that she was creating a beautiful, pious and meek character full of all christian faith and fervor as any character ever created, yet, she did it purposely, to show the psychological effects of slavery upon the will. to demonstrate to her northern and international audience, the psychological chains of oppression. she did it to demonstrate the religious nature of African-Americans, who were thought to be and treated as less than human. her strategy, encompassed all possible strategies, and in showing uncle tom to be pious, she was hoping to move Christians to recognize that they could not be satisfied with a rich interior spiritual life, sitting and praying alongside slave owners and those that believed in slavery as long as brothers and sisters in Christ were yet to be delivered from Egypt if you will.

Beecher-Stowe and her book, in contemporary times have fallen out of favor. she has been accused, at many time, from the time the book was written, of racist/paternalist ideology upon blacks. But i don't see this at all. One must remember the times that she operated in.
I remember Eddie Murphy, who beautifully illustrated the absurdity of trying to overlay a modern day perspective to the to the politics of slavery.

but even if you do, what Beecher Stowe has created is amazing. the beauty and love she shows for all people regardless of race, who are christian, or in sin. she leaves god to judge them, although she knows the reading public will certainly be moved to form their own opinions.

she takes great pains to illustrate the beauty, humanity, intelligence, devotion, love, family bonds, terror, fear, torture, murder, desperation and aspirations of the black race. as well, or better than Toni Morrison, ntzake shange, Alice walker, Tracy Chapman....

but don't take my word for it, let's look at what William G. Allen, a contemporary of Frederick Douglass, and Professor at Central College in McGrawville, NY has to say about the book in an opinion published in Frederick Douglass' newspaper, May 20, 1852:

I have recently read "Uncle Tom." What a book! It is, in its line, the wonder of wonders. How its descriptions stir the blood, indeed almost make it leap out of the heart!

Uncle Tom was a good soul, thoroughly and perfectly pious. Indeed, if any man had too much piety, Uncle Tom was that man. I confess to more of "total depravity." More shame to me, possibly, but nevertheless, such is the fact. My non-resistance is that of the Douglass, Parker, and Phillips school. I believe, as you do, that it is not light the slaveholder wants, but fire, and he ought to have it. I do not advocate revenge, but simply, resistance to tyrants, if need be, to the death.

The story of the Quadroon girl, second book, thirty-fourth chapter, exceeds anything that I have ever read, in all that is soul-searching and thrilling.

I have one regret, with regard to the book, and that is that the chapter favoring colonization was ever written. Many of the bad features of that chapter, are somewhat modified by the admission, on the 302nd page, of the right of the colored people to meet and mingle in this country—to rise by their individual worth, and without distinction of caste or color; and that they have not only the rights of the common men here, but more than these, the rights of an injured race for reparation;

I have no objection to the Christianizing of Africa. God speed the missionaries who go thither for so high and holy purpose—Those also, be they white or colored, who go to build republics upon her shores, go to perform a work, great, grand, and glorious—God speed them also.


As to the talk about African nationality, this is sheer nonsense if by African nationality is meant a nation composed entirely of pure Africans. Nations worthy of the name, are only produced by a fusion of races... Indeed, fusion of races seems to be a trait, distinctive of Americans.

Let us take this to our hearts, at least, that slavery is a national sin, and nations are not fixed facts, but are continually, though may be slowly, passing away.

And so we have Uncle Tom. A pious character, in his faith, unreproachable, and yet, a burden to all those who strive for political action against repression for his allegiance to the law of the land, over the full law of god, hidden and passed off as "goodness". Overall his acceptance of his condition as a slave, his passivity, and his complete brainwashing, parading as religious meekness make him a despised character fully deserving of the name, 'Uncle Tom'. This same man who would never think to "cheat" his master by running away with himself has, in his acceptance, left his fate and that of his family in the hands of evil-doers who repay his loyalty and fealty in spades of cruelty.

Uncle Tom and "Uncle Tom's" as the prototypical Stockholm Syndrome-ee, have been the nemesis of social movements and uprisings from time immemorial. From the conquest of Africa, Latin America, and the snitch, that alerts those in power of pending insurrections, this feeble minded class of man, has earned a place of disdain on a level far over-reaching the hatred of the oppressor.

In this apologist age of those with mental infirmities, Uncle Tom's still can not be forgiven, despite their well documented psychological malaise. Uncle Tom's love of religion could be said to perhaps have had it's appeal in his own fear in the possibility of eternal punishment. Perhaps Tom's religiousness is in truth, another symptom of his inability to think on his own. perhaps his perfectionist displays are merely another layer of psychological wound upon the mind of a slave caught within the dual realm of arbitrary masters and Gods.