Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The phrase "Uncle Tom" has also become an epithet for a person who is slavish and excessively subservient to perceived authority figures, particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people; or any person perceived to be a participant in the oppression of their own group. The negative epithet is the result of later works derived from the original novel.
Read more about Uncle Tom: Original Characterization and Critical Evaluations, Inspiration, Epithet
Famous quotes containing the words uncle and/or tom:
“If Uncle Sam should ever sell that tract for one cent per acre, he will swindle the purchaser outrageously.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Sir, there is more knowledge in a letter of Richardson’s, than in all Tom Jones.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)