Uncle Tom

American  

noun

Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a Black person, especially a man, considered by other Black people to be subservient to or to curry favor with white people.

2. a person who exhibits overly deferential behavior.

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Uncle Tom British  

noun

1. informal a Black person whose behaviour towards White people is regarded as obsequious and servile

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Usage

What does Uncle Tom mean? Content warning: this article includes content dealing with slavery and racism.Uncle Tom is a fictional character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. His name has become a highly offensive nickname some Black people use to accuse other Black people of subservient to white people and culture.How is Uncle Tom pronounced?[ uhng-kuhl tom ]

Other Word Forms

• Uncle Tomish adjective
• Uncle Tomism noun

Etymology

Origin of Uncle Tom

An Americanism first recorded in 1920–25; so called after the leading character in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Example Sentences

Paradoxically, at virtually the same time, the many stage adaptations of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which dramatized, or melodramatized, the brutality of slavery, were an enduring sensation.

From The Wall Street Journal

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” first published as a serial in the National Era newspaper starting in 1851, became a challenge to all Americans to stand against slavery.

From The Wall Street Journal

The law leads to angry protests and inspires Harriet Beecher Stowe to write a serialized novel that will become Uncle Tom's Cabin.

From Literature

During the credits, Caviezel addresses the audience, saying the filmmakers hope “Sound of Freedom” will be “the ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ of 21st century slavery.”

From New York Times

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was based on her years in Cincinnati, on the banks of the river over whose ice floe Stowe’s fictional Eliza fled.

From Washington Post