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On Dec 29, 2012, at 9:30 AM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote: > As I understand it, "Uncle Tom" acquired its current derogatory meanings from > post-Civil War blackface minstrel show adaptations of Harriet Beecher-Stowe's > book which often portrayed a caricature of the Uncle Tom character that was > very different from the heroic character from the novel. > -raghu. Thanks for this. The minstrel shows were certainly one of the pathways for the metamorphosis of Tom. I think the case of deep racism was the cause, though. The end of slavery was the end of certain property rights to some. When my right-wing neighbor lost his home to a foreclosure he ripped up the pipes and electric wires as he left. It was important to him to damage his beautiful property when he lost it. The minstrel shows were the forerunners of vaudeville, which led to radio, movies, then tv and now the Internet, all of them media. It's easy to see how telling the big lie repeatedly and surrounding it with light entertainment was a process already afoot before Goebbles enunciated it. Dan _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
