In Defense of Uncle Tom

By: Brando Simeo Starkey

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Synopsis: "Uncle Tom" is the most piercing epithet blacks can hurl at one another. It marks targets as race traitors, and that painful stain is often permanent. Much more than a slur, Uncle Tom is a vital component of a system of social norms in the black community that deters treachery. In this book, Brando Simeo Starkey provocatively argues that blacks must police racial loyalty and that those successfully prosecuted must be punished with the label Uncle Tom. This book shadows Uncle Tom throughout history to understand how these norms were constructed, disseminated, applied, and enforced. Why were Martin Luther King Jr. , Marcus Garvey, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and others accused of racial betrayal? In Defense of Uncle Tom answers this and other questions and insists that Uncle Tom is too valuable to discard. Because it deters treachery, this epithet helps build black solidarity, a golden tool in promoting racial progress.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781316213469
Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Date of Addition:: 12/09/14
Copyrighted By:: Brando Simeo Starkey
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Social Studies, Language Arts, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics, Politics and Government
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.