Uncle Tom's Cabin
by: Kylie Tweed, Hannah Grinnell & Halle Tarvin
Thesis
Kylie Tweed
b) I think the most surprising thing I witnessed in these images would be the idea of submission from the blacks to the whites. Although they knew the injustices they dealt with they also felt they couldn't do much about it because of the positions that whites held in society. Also, considering the actual story was anti-slavery it was surprising that many images depicted examples of the negative aspects to slavery rather than showing a more anti- slavery stance that the story produces.
Halle Tarvin
b) The most surprising thing about these images was the idea that in the 1850s, only ten years before the abolishing of slavery,such strong black stereotyping and ridicule was so common and accepted throughout American society. The story itself, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was an anti-slave children's book. It is depicted in daily life such as advertisements as well as plays, post cards, etc. and its subject matter is abused in a racially stereotypical way.
Hannah Grinnell
The most surprising thing about the images were that not all of them showed pain. Some of the pictures depicted the black man/women caring for a child or for a family member with happiness not pain or hate. It was also surprising that the black people were not always shown as lesser in a picture. They could be shown as good and welcomed in a postive way not a negative way.