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ISBN: 9781552454107

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Uncle

Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty

Jackie Robinson, President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, O. J. Simpson and Christopher Darden have all been accused of being an Uncle Tom during their careers. How, why, and with what consequences for our society did Uncle Tom morph first into a servile old man and then to a racial epithet hurled at African American men deemed, by other Black people, to have betrayed their race?

Uncle Tom, the eponymous figure in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sentimental anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was a loyal Christian who died a martyr’s death. But soon after the best-selling novel appeared, theatre troupes across North America and Europe transformed Stowe’s story into minstrel shows featuring white men in blackface. In Uncle, Cheryl Thompson traces Tom’s journey from literary character to racial trope. She explores how Uncle Tom came to be and exposes the relentless reworking of Uncle Tom into a nostalgic, racial metaphor with the power to shape how we see Black men, a distortion visible in everything from Uncle Ben and Rastus The Cream of Wheat chef to Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson to Bill Cosby.

In Donald Trump’s post-truth America, where nostalgia is used as a political tool to rewrite history, Uncle makes the case for why understanding the production of racial stereotypes matters more than ever before.

Contributors

Cheryl Thompson

Cheryl Thompson is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson University in Performance at The Creative School (formerly Creative Industries). She is author of Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada's Black Beauty Culture . She previously held a Banting postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto. Her work has appeared in The Conversation, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, Spacing, Herizons Magazine, Halifax Coast, and Rabble.ca . She was born and raised in Toronto, where she currently resides. She has also lived in the United States.
Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

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In the introduction, the author discusses her lifelong fascination with the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. 10 $1.00

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This chapter explores Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, which was an explosive success in antebellum America. It also examines Uncle Tom himself, who in the novel was a devout and pious … 8 $0.80

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In this chapter, Thompson examines the illustrations that gave Uncle Tom’s Cabin much of its lasting appeal. 6 $0.60

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This chapter examines the phenomenon of minstrelsy, and how Uncle Tom came to be depicted in minstrel shows. 11 $1.10

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This chapter describes the evolution of minstrelsy into vaudeville, and how this new form of entertainment brought new meaning to the character of Uncle Tom. 7 $0.70

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In this chapter, Thompson explores the meaning of Uncle Tom within the context of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. Here, Thompson suggests, Americans became increasingly obsessed … 6 $0.60

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This chapter examines Rastus, an Uncle Tom-like figure who was featured in several early silent films. The character later appeared in advertisements for Cream of Wheat. 8 $0.80

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In this chapter, Thompson examines the "Mammy" figure, another stock character who was first depicted in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The chapter also touches on Confederate monuments, and … 11 $1.10

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This chapter explores the creation and career of two other stock characters: Sambo and Uncle Remus, both of whom share important charactaristics with Uncle Tom. 7 $0.70

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This chapter examines railway sleeping cars, the Black men who served as porters to tourists on the rails, and how these men were forced to conform to the Uncle Tom stereotype. 8 $0.80

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In this chapter, Thompson examines another character from Uncle Tom’s Cabin who became a stock figure, Topsy. 12 $1.20

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This chapter explores the first on-screen depiction of Uncle Tom. He was portrayed by a white actor in blackface in a film made by Thomas Edison. 7 $0.70

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In this chapter, Thompson explores the role of radio in perpetuating caricatures of Blackness. 5 $0.50

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This chapter explores Song of the South, a 1944 Disney movie that featured Uncle Remus. 12 $1.20

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This chapter focuses on the 1950s and 60s, a time of events that would forever define both the civil rights protests and the state-sanctioned violance that followed. During this era, Uncle Tom … 11 $1.10

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In this chapter, Thompson examines the careers of several important Black actors whose characters were not "stranded in cinematic slavery." 8 $0.80

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This chapter explores the socio-economic context in which Black communities began to police the boundaries of racial loyalty. It was at this time that "Uncle Tom" became the label used … 13 $1.30

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In this chapter, Thompson writes about depictions of African Americans on television, especially in shows written and produced by Norman Lear. 9 $0.90

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This chapter concerns the rise of Black conservatism in the 1980s and early 90s, as exemplified by figures such as Clarence Thomas. 23 $2.30

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This chapter examines the role of Black conservatives in the web of free-market capitalism, focusing especially on the ideology of The Cosby Show. 14 $1.40

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In this chapter, Thompson explores the meanings of the made-for-TV movie version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 12 $1.20

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This chapter explores the career of Michael Jordan, who Thompson suggests was used to sell white America not just consumer products, but also a squeaky-clean image of Black masculinity. 9 $0.90

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This chapter examines the recent re-branding of commercial caricatures such as Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima. Now silent trademark characters, they no longer speak in advertisements and are reduced … 13 $1.30

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In this chapter, Thompson explores the O.J. Simpson trial, which she calls "a symbolic clash between a ‘real’ Black man on trial for his life and an ‘Uncle Tom’ Black … 15 $1.50

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This chapter examines the career of Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign was marked by accusations of disloyalty to the Black community. 16 $1.60

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In the concluding chapter, Thompson summarizes her arguments, and suggests that Uncle Tom is quite possibly the most resilient figure in American history. 5 $0.50