Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Cultural Politics of Loyalty

by Cheryl L. Thompson

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2020

About the author

In 2022, Dr. Cheryl Thompson joined Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University at the rank of Assistant Professor. She was previously faculty in Creative Industries (2018-2021). She is the author of Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty (2021) and Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture (2019),, external link external link, external link. Dr. Thompson is currently director of The Laboratory for Black Creativity (The LBC), which extends the pedagogy of THF470: Black Creative Practices, an open elective course that unpacks Black creative origins, forms, and styles. The LBC aims to be an incubator for research, conversations, and events on music, dance, theatre, festivals, fashion, media, and the visual arts. The goal is to create space for Black creatives, scholars, artists, musicians, actors and directors, dancers and choreographers at The Creative School.

In 2021, Dr. Thompson was a recipient of an Ontario Early Researcher Award (2021-26) titled, “Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives Through Storytelling,” this project aims to catalogue Ontario’s Black archival collections, and through ethnographic interviews with the province’s creative community, collect stories about the collections that will culminate with a public exhibition curated by Dr. Thompson and her research team. In addition to publishing in academic journals, magazines, and newspapers, Dr. Thompson has also appeared on numerous podcasts and media platforms in Canada and internationally. Dr. Thompson holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University. She previously held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Theatre, Drama & Performance Studies, and the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of English & Drama. In 2021, Dr. Thompson was named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Reviews

[Enid Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is clearly one of this year’s ‘must read’ titles. An impeccably well researched - including fabulous notes and selected bibliography - telling of the way in which the term Uncle Tom has morphed over time, and continues to be a very fluid construct. It finds the right balance between being an academic pursuit while also wanting to be accessible to the everyday reader. There is a tendency to be repetitive at times, but it is entirely forgivable.

I found the first half of the book especially fascinating… some of the history that I was unaware of… the history of minstrelry, in particular. That’s not to detract from the latter part of the book - the more contemporary materials… that which has happened in my lifetime. Certainly everyone can always use re-visiting what they know - what they think they know - and especially through a different lens.

The author has no easy answers, as indeed there are no easy answers. There will always be the inherent tension between those who seek to effect change from inside the system, and those who seek to effect change from outside that same system. It does not mean that one or the other is wrong. I, personally, believe that it requires both. The author asks where the responsibility lies… with the Black community? Or with the Black politicians? Again… it lies with both (and more). The author also asks whether George Floyd is a martyr or a hero. Again… he is both, at one and the same time.

This book is a rallying call - to everyone - to continue to understand how the very structures of our lives - social, political and economic - are inherently racist, and to work, collectively to re-imagine our world as one which is not built upon the backs of ‘the other’... and to re-invent our world as such.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how many times I've heard the epithet "uncle Tom" hurled in the context of interviews, talk shows, movies, social media, etc. I was vaguely aware of the origins of the term, but I found myself wanting to understand this ever-present appellation. As soon as I heard about this book, I knew I'd be reading it. It covers everything from Beecher Stowe's book, to minstrel shows, vaudeville, tv shows, movies and movie stars, marketing and advertising, etc., with this underlying analysis of themes and variations. The Canadian examples were brief, but revelatory. I learned a lot about the epithet, and the underlying issues of "race, nostalgia, and the politics of loyalty."

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent for making connections for me between things I hadn't consciously considered connected. Dr Thompson follows the trajectory of "Uncle Tom" from his first iteration as a fictional character in the novel through minstrel shows, Vaudeville, Jim Crow laws, Hollywood, the civil rights movement, corporate marketing, sports, and politics. She shows how the meaning of what it means to be called an Uncle Tom changed and evolved from a martyr to a sellout. Highly recommended.

[Cameron Barham]

“Why is Uncle Tom still here? And how has the persistence of Uncle Tom affected the way we think about Black masculinity? (This book), ultimately, is on exploration of cultural production, but one that opens a window on the ways in which American consumer society has produced race for over 150 years.”, p. 14

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of which I (white Canadian) was mostly unfamiliar, but reads in part like academic discourse disconnected from reality. For example: "by continually restaging the story of Uncle Tom, white actors...found a way to keep slavery viable as an ideology of race and class" - What??

[Leonicka · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 50 pages are sloppy and there is very little about the Black experience in Canada but overall this historical analysis is excellent

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 rating. Meticulously researched but wish it tapped more into the female Uncle Toms that exist. And would like more Canadian context. This was a good read but I feel like I needed more.