It’s so funny when you catch yourself in your own ignorance. However, I’ve come to learn, to admit when you are wrong essentially is showing the mature side of you that wants to be right.
So with that being said, this blog is an attempt for me to undo one of my wrongs and turn it into a ‘right’. Not just for the sake of my own ignorance but also to shed some light(knowledge) on others…
A few weeks back, beginning of December to be exact, my co-worker and I were doing training for this educational outreach program through my job. Currently for the months of January/February we're traveling to different schools setting up after school workshops with students going over Dramatic history/American playwrights. I was excited because I was assigned to assist with the group that was going over the history of Lorraine Hansberry and her famous play ‘A raisin in the sun.’ My co-worker was assigned the group that was dealing with literature adaptations to the stage. Unlike me, he's working with high school students and doing a workshop on ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I remember joking (as I always do with him) to make sure to go into great detail with the students on how NOT to become an Uncle Tom! The last thing we needed were more sell-outs.
My coworker automatically replied with great assertion. Defending Uncle Tom. Explaining how he was going to explain to the students who the true Uncle Tom was. He claimed the character Uncle Tom was a decent man, one who sacrificed himself for others. Uncle tom according to my co-worker, was a hero.
Considering I never was a master at hiding my reactions, the look of disbelief and shock was transparent as me being black and him being a white… there was no way to hide it. My co-worker then proceeded to ask me, if I had even read the book. I replied casually with a no. But his dramatic gasp for air and loud response of ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Caught me by surprise. You would have thought I had somehow let down the entire black race by not reading this book...
But then again his disappointment was appropriate. Who was I to cast judgment on a book I never even read? My ignorance not only on the book but even the character was not the platform to state an argument that Uncle Tom was some ‘shuckin & jivin Massa loving sell-out!” My co-worker’s perception of the character truly me had me thinking, Who was Uncle Tom? And had I been misinformed?
So I didn't let my ignorance get the best of me. I did a little research on the book as well as the on Abolitionist Writer (Harriet Beecher Stowe) and came to discover some interesting facts on this famous American literature…
-This book is consider to be the first 'best seller' Selling over 300,000 copies. Some sources say it even outsold the Bible or it came close to being 2nd in the standings.
'
-It's also one of the first pieces of fictional literature to discuss the 'harsh' realties of slavery(though i personally have read others that tell way more horrid depictions). However, this book was still consider ‘revolutionary’ at the time considering it was written in 1851 and not that many books had been published speaking out against slavery and the problems in which it caused.
-It was also written in response to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which forced the northerner states to not harbor any fugitive slaves and return them to their ‘rightful’ owners
read more about here: http://americanhistory.about.com/od/beforethewar/a/fugitiveslave.htm
-It was also inspired by a number of real life slave narratives. One man in particular by the name of Josiah Henson
-Some sources even claim this book was one of the catalysts to spark the start of the Civil War…
Once I discovered the historical significance behind this story I was even more intrigued to read it…
And I did.
Finished it some time last week.
695 pages later…and I am left a with a number of thoughts, concerns and critiques on the overall book. But I won’t focus on that, that can be for another discussion or blog. I just want to focus on Uncle Tom.
To my findings, my co-worker was somewhat correct. In the book, Uncle Tom was a soft gentle man, resilient and strong. Naïve at times and even considerably mistaken for being passive, but he was written to display someone one resembled Christian benevolence. A man who remained strong and peaceful despite his harsh reality.
This was not the Uncle Tom I had been socialized to think of.
What was even crazier was how Uncle Tom is usually referred to as a black person who sales out their own race for the approval of white people. But the Uncle Tom in this book actually died for members of his race. This was displayed in the climax of the story when Uncle Tom refuses to reveal to Master LaGree where the young slave women(who were being sexually abused by him) had ran off to. Instead of “selling them out” Uncle Tom remains silent. He takes the brutal beating, which then results in his death.
This ending for Uncle Tom literally disturbed me. Not because how he died, because he was not the first or last of many African-Americans who died in such inhumane circumstances. What made me upset was how his character over time had been distorted and confused.
I came to discover before 1856 American Copyright laws did not grant novel authors any control over derivative stage adaptations. Meaning, just about anybody could take someone’s work and recreate it any form. And that's exactly what happened with Uncle Tom’s cabin.
Although the most recognized stage adaptation was Aiken’s version, which ran for over 50’s years, there was still a great number of other versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin being depicted on stage reaching the masses. These versions fell into hands of the minstrel shows or 'black-face' producers. The producers of the early stage shows didn't “think” that they could attract an audience that would want to see a black slave who was patient, strong and kind. Their agenda, as it was with all these shows, was to portray blacks as being lazy, ignorant and inferior. Therefore, in the stage adaptation of Uncle Tom's cabin, Uncle Tom was transformed into a Goon. Someone who was ignorant, lazy, and submissive to his ‘massa’. Some producers even changed the ending of the story by having Uncle Tom rat out where the women slaves had ran off to.
And this is how the “sell-out" version of Uncle Tom was born.
Maybe I find this to be deep, because I myself as writer believe the characters that we depict in a form of literature, play or film not only reflect ones’ imagination but the realties in which we live in. I would be beyond upset if someone took one of my fictional characters and decided to change their beliefs, convictions or even their actions just to fit the agenda of the mainstream masses.
And if you still think I am going too far with this point. I am not. It is well known fact that art forms such as plays, films and even literature(such as Uncle Tom's Cabin) serve a vital role in our society not because they serve as pass times for mere entertainment, but because they also serve as a from of social discourse. They also motivate people to change or think about the world around them.
But outside of that, I guess a character like Uncle Tom provides meaning and history as to how some negative stereotypes or characters of African Americans came to light. It’s proof of how something that was meant to be a symbol of good can be turned into something completely opposite of that.
It sort of makes me question the current symbols we have in our mainstream culture today. Grant it, back in the days of ‘Uncle Tom’ black people didn’t have much rights or choices on how they were being depicted, let alone even how they lived(which was something I was reminded of when reading this story) But what about the black people of today? What is our excuse for the negative images being displayed in mainstream culture?
To sit back and accept these images as being "ok" or "cool" in my opinion is the new definition of the modern day “sell-out"
Maybe being a sell out isn’t someone who appeases to the likings of white people...
Maybe being a sell out is someone who chooses to not take advantage of the fact that they can go to school and educate their mind.
Maybe being a sell out is someone who chooses to not utilize their right to be heard and actually vote.
Maybe being a sell out is someone who is drowning in a complacent attitude instead of of growing in spirit of action.
Maybe being a sell out is someone who fits to the standard mold of being accepted as oppose to being the unexpected.
Maybe being a sell out is one who rather fit to image of Barbie Doll....
Or fried chicken eating rapper?
I mean you decide?
It's quite obvious to say Uncle Tom didn't have much of a choice on how his image or character would be sold, but we actually do. So the question I ask is...
what is it that you are or have been willing to sale yourself out to?
I can only imagine in a culture that advocates 'it's ok, as long as you getting paid' the type of answers people would say...
But back to the subject matter at hand… which is Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom
I write this as a reminder
of the things
i am willing and not willing
to sale myself out to you.
Uncle tom I write this for you.
To remind others that one story(your story)
Can be a testimony for change…
I write this for you.
To set the record and history straight
on what your character originally represented
and who he came to be.
Your character has inspired me
to create stories that reflect
the world in which I live in
and also a world
I one day wish to see…
No comments:
Post a Comment