Author and columnist Shelly Reuben

When I was younger (like last week), I had this irritating habit of believing that what happened in novels was happening in the real world.

Usually, I was able to get from page one all the way through to the last page. So, despite the tribulations experience by Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I managed to trudge tearfully though to the end. There were, however, two books with which I could NOT summon that kind of courage. One was The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue. The other was Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The big hitch in the first (the plot is so complex, I can’t even begin to summarize) is when young Adrienne de Cardoville’s despicable aunt commits her to an insane asylum in order to steal her fortune. At which point, I know … I just know … that if I turn the page, that beautiful, innocent girl is going to be murdered by the evil Jesuit doctor. So, I never turned the page. I simply couldn’t.

Same problem with Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That plot is easier to describe, although the torment of the main characters seems to go on forever. To simplify, here is a quick overview, which I plagiarized primarily from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin  tells the story of  Uncle Tom, a saintly, dignified slave in America’s South. While being transported by boat to an auction, Uncle Tom saves the life of  Little Eva, an angelic young girl, whose grateful father then purchases Tom. Eva and Tom soon become great friends. Always frail, Eva’s health begins to decline rapidly, and on her death bed, she asks her father to free all his slaves. But before he can do that, he is killed. Tom is then bought by the brutal  Simon Legree.

In reading the book, I got to the part where Liza, a slave being ruthlessly tracked by bounty hunters, is fleeing with her baby across the frozen Ohio River. Following my usual pattern of cowardice, and not wanting Liza to be caught, I simply don’t turn the page. And, as with The Wandering Jew, the rest of Uncle Tom’s Cabin remained unread.

Until … the great UNTIL … I found an audio edition, and somehow managed to listen to the entire book. Straight through to the end!

Now, one thing you should know about the term “Uncle Tom” is that for over half-a-century, it has been used pejoratively to deride black Americans as sycophants if they “relinquish” their so-called “black identities” and choose not to march in lock-step with angry mobs:

To quote Chad O. Jackson, a successful general contractor, “An Uncle Tom is somebody who has sold out by embracing the white man, by becoming a Republican, by rejecting the idea that you're a victim, by supporting things like hard work, accountability and low taxes. By refusing to think of yourself as a black person first, as opposed to as an American who is black. Your skin color should dictate how you think and what you say. The only way I can operate as a human being is via my skin color. I can't operate via my intelligence or the things I have accomplished. My resume should be, I'm black.”

To enraged activists, an ”Uncle Tom” is a black / Negro / non-White person who studies Shakespeare instead of Critical Race Theory, becomes an entrepreneur, a scientist, or a member of the National Guard, salutes the flag, and dislikes being called an “Afro-American” – or, as Morgan Freeman succinctly put it, “I don’t … want to be called African-American (because) I’m not African.”

The most heinous Uncle Tom of all, however, is the individual, male or female, black, brown, or anything other than Caucasian, who opts (God forbid) to become a Conservative or a Republican.

Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom. Who really was he? What legacy did he leave?

Following is an excerpt from the novel where he is being beaten by Simon Legree for refusing to reveal where his (Legree’s) slaves have fled.

"Well, Tom!" said Legree, walking up, and seizing him grimly by the collar of his coat, and speaking through his teeth, in a paroxysm of determined rage, "do you know I've made up my mind to kill you?"

"It's very likely, Mas'r," said Tom, calmly.

"I have," said Legree, with a grim, terrible calmness, "done - just - that - thing, Tom, unless you'll tell me what you know about these yer gals! …"

"I han't got nothing to tell, Mas'r," said Tom, with a slow, firm, deliberate utterance.

"Do you dare to tell me, ye old black Christian, ye don't know?" said Legree.

Tom was silent.

"Speak!" thundered Legree, striking him furiously. Do you know anything?"

"I know, Mas'r; but I can't tell anything. I can die!"

Uncle Tom does die. Simon Legree kills him. But he dies a hero, faultlessly moral, generous, faithful to his friends, and steadfast in his beliefs. And my entire life, I had thought that I was the only person who – if someone had called me an “Uncle Tom” – would consider it an honor instead of an insult.

Well, imagine my surprise when I discovered that in 2020 an incredible documentary was made called, not surprisingly, Uncle Tom. It was produced by Malone Pictures, written by political commentator Larry Elder, and tells a story that I had always wished someone would tell. Here is a description from the movie’s website: https://www.malonepictures.com/uncle-tom :

“In a collection of intimate interviews with some of America's most provocative black conservative thinkers, Uncle Tom takes a different look at being black in America. Featuring media personalities, ministers, civil rights activists, veterans, and a self-employed plumber, the film explores their personal journeys of navigating the world as one of America's most misunderstood political and cultural groups: The American Black Conservative.”

The best way to get a sense of this film is to WATCH IT … free on YouTube, or by whatever means of magic you get movies delivered to your door. (Larry Elders also produced the 2022 sequel, Uncle Tom II, which is even more informative, revealing, and emotionally exhausting than Part I, but I’ll let you figure out how to find that yourself.)

During interviews at the beginning of the film, successful entrepreneurs, neurosurgeons, veterans, judges, congressmen, farmers, CEOs, and even a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, reveal how Black and White leftists regularly call them “Uncle Tom, Boot licker. Black White Supremacist. House Negro, and Coon. Coon. Coon.”

But by the end of the film, Chad O. Jackson, the principal narrator, describes where his self-reliance and love of country have brought him:

“Being a business owner in America is one of the greatest privileges of being in America. I love being in this country, where you can start anything, you can be anything, you can do anything ... Oftentimes I get crazy messages from people who (say), they can't believe I do this or whatever. But … you don't really get it and understand it until you start doing it yourself.”

That’s it.

Now, get a hold of Uncle Tom, the documentary. Watch it. Learn how important it is to respect (and not besmirch) strong, proud, productive individuals who not only reject pity, but also reject the concepts of “White privilege” and “White guilt.”

Then … then … then … read Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and find out how one little lady wielding a fountain pen helped to end slavery …and was able to change the world.

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2025. Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com