Uncle Tom's Cabin..., and anti-Tom literature

[bttf44]

I was just thinking a little about this. I know Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by an abolitionist, detailing the evils of slavery and such. It pretty much got the ball rolling, so to speak - with regard to ending slavery.

I know, in return, the book has spawned a series of books promoting slavery - usually with claims that either slavery was beneficial to blacks, or that the concept of cruelty to slaves was exaggerated.

I just got to thinking of an even darker side of this, though. I wonder if even anti-Tom (pro-slavery) literature has been criticized by certain slave owners for actually humanizing slaves too much. I know, not a very pleasant subject - but I can't get this out of my mind.

It's my understanding that some slave owners were unabashedly cruel to their slaves - and were not, in the least, afraid of admitting to it. I wonder if they might've taken issue with the fact that anti-Tom literature has typically defended slavery on the grounds that slave owners were not necessarily cruel to their slaves - which, quite naturally, would not sit well with those unabashedly cruel slave owners. After all, they saw absolutely nothing wrong with cruelty to slaves - and, in fact, believed that it was the way it should be.

There was a children's anti-Tom book, called Little Eva (taken from a character in Uncle Toms Cabin) - which actually suggested that slave owners could be friends with their slaves. I can imagine that some slave owners found that to be a very radical concept.

Anyway, I found out about this on TV Tropes - and then I got to thinking about Kristen Sheley's fic that focused on the issue of slavery. I myself have been leaning towards the idea of Goldie Wilson's family having a history of slavery.

[needles1987]

Oddly enough, black men who let white people walk all over them are referred to as Uncle Toms.