What is an Uncle Tom?
The slang term “Uncle Tom” is used in the African American or black community to describe someone who is perceived as overly ingratiating in interactions with white people. The term is meant to imply that the Uncle Tom is subservient and excessively deferential, behaving as someone of a lesser class or social status rather than treating whites as equals. Usually, this term is used as an insult. The origins of this slang term lie in an 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In fact, the title character of the book is anything but subservient and accommodating, being unafraid to stand up for himself and his values. Stowe apparently wrote his character with the intent of turning him into a role model, but over time, Uncle Tom’s depiction was twisted on stage and screen, until the original identity of the character was overshadowed by a stereotypical cringing black man who is eager to please the white “master.” Uncle Tom appears to have entered common
A term similar in meaning to “Jewish Uncle Tom” is “ham on rye,” meaning “Jewish on the outside, Gentile on the inside.” This parallels the slang term “Oreo” for African-Americans who are said to be “Black on the outside, white on the inside.” Here’s an instance of “ham on rye”: “Although at a few cocktail parties back in Manhattan he had been confronted by a belligerent member of the tribe accusing him of trying to pass, of being a ham-on-rye, Jewish on the outside and goy on the inside.” http://w3.sysoff.ctstateu.edu/web/CSUweb_News.nsf/e99960d3f630dfc385256aa700134370/cf122efbe518650e852569f1000c0c58/$FILE/Fall%2048-62.
