Revisiting Uncle Tom

Suffering, Subservience, and Racial Betrayal in American Cultural Memory

Abstract

This paper examines the evolving figure of Uncle Tom in American cultural memory, tracing how Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) transformed into acontested symbol of Black identity, morality, and betrayal. While Stowe portrayed him as a devout martyr, later representations reduced him to a stereotype: the noble sufferer, the submissive servant, and the racial sellout. Analyzing selected literary and cinematic portrayals from the 19th century to the present, the paper explores how Uncle Tom has served as both a figure of empathy and a target of scorn. It considers the racial politics of suffering, respectability, betrayal, and survival, highlighting the tension between resistance and complicity. Through comparative close readings, the paper argues that Uncle Tom’s legacy reveals the shifting burdens placed on Black representation in U.S. culture and sheds light on broader questions of race, memory, and identity in the American literary tradition.