Uncle-tom meaning
A black person who is regarded as being subservient or excessively deferential to white people.
noun
A black person whose behavior toward whites is regarded as fawning or servile.
noun
Uncle Tom is defined as an ethnic slur directed at an African American man who appears to be acting especially servile or submissive towards Caucasians. The expression comes from a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe called Uncle Tom's Cabin in which Tom was a black man who showed great deference and obedience to whites.
An example of Uncle Tom is an insult addressed towards a black man who seems too quick to do things to please white men.
noun
Origin of uncle-tom
- After Uncle Tom , a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition