Today marks the 200th birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the abolitionist and author who gave us 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' the profoundly influential anti-slavery opus, and the character Uncle Tom, arguably one the most divisive and misunderstood black characters in American history.
Stowe's novel, published in 1852, sparked enthusiasm and pride for blacks and those fighting slavery as well as outrage on the part of those, particularly in the slave-holding South, who damned the book as dangerous and subversive. In the North the novel emboldened folks like W.E.B Dubois, who according to historians once lauded Stowe as a champion of the people, saying: "Thus to a frail overburdened Yankee woman with a steadfast moral purpose we Americans, both black and white, owe our gratitude for the freedom and the union that exist today in these United States."
When the book was first published the slave trade was a thriving industry. But Stowe and her novel, in emotional fashion, convinced many Americans of slavery's evils and the humanity of blacks, then relegated as little more than property at best, animals at worst.
At the heart of the controversy over the novel is the character Uncle Tom, a slave, who in his original incarnation was as a physically imposing yet mild mannered man that opted for proud accommodation over antagonism for the safety of those he cared about, including other slaves. Uncle Tom's master eventually killed him because he refused to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. An act of heroism?
But as the novel gained world-wide acclaim and stage plays and theatrical renditions were performed and artists took license over the characters, Uncle Tom began to take the shape of the stereotypical black slave of the day -- lazy, servile and a white man's boot-licker.
As time went on and black politics shifted more toward the radical, free of white validation, Uncle Tom came to represent those deemed not black enough for the community's own good.
Thus, today an Uncle Tom is seen as the consummate sell-out, the self-hating black that loves nothing more than the adoration of whites. From a symbol of, dare I say, black empowerment to black impishness, Uncle Tom's journey from dignified black man who refused to betray his race to race-hater has long dominated the discussion around Stowe's novel.
But this day, Stowe's birthday, offers a great opportunity to reexamine a work that changed American history and ignited the debate over slavery. And the devolution of a character and phrase so reviled in the black community today, but 159 years ago was a radical condemnation of black slavery.