In Defense of Uncle Tom

"You are an Uncle Tom!" shouts one Black American to another. No greater insult exists amongst fellow Blacks in America. For a Black to call another Black an Uncle Tom is to say, of that person, they have dropped to the lowest possible status within the race. An Uncle Tom is thought to be a Black who has aligned themselves socially, politically and financially with racist Whites for personal advancement, at the expense of their own race. Our modern dictionaries have adopted the term 'Uncle Tomism' into its lexicon. The term is defined as, "deferential, subservient behavior and attitudes believed characteristic of an Uncle Tom." Although the definition speaks to the subservient behavior of an Uncle Tom, it stops short of stating to whom he is subservient or whether it is factual. It is believed. This present day belief in the character of an Uncle Tom is the impetus and the adversary of this book.