[Ads-l] Antedating of "Uncle Tomism"

[Jonathan Lighter]

My two cents:

Fred's unusual ex. means "popular interest in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_."

There was even a minstrel song sympathetic to Uncle Tom.

JL

On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 12:18 PM Stephen Goranson <
00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Well,  a depiction of [anti-] Uncle Tomism. The New York writer may not
> have known your rules.
>
> Speaking of President Lincoln (while awaiting exit of you-know-who) Fred's
> excellent New Yale Book of Quotations has a 1911 version given in 1896
> Atlantic Monthly  78 (August 1896): 148 as  'Is this the little woman who
> made the great war?'
> (Supposedly on Dec. 2, 1862 or November?).
>
> sg
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Rich
> Lowenthal <000018596069864c-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2026 10:48 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Uncle Tomism"
>
> I'm a bit confused by this reference: it doesn't really make sense in
> the conventional meaning of "Uncle Tomism," and seems simply to refer to
> Cruikshank's involvement in the publication as illustrator.
>
> Rich Lowenthal
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 2/9/2026 14:58:15
> Subject Antedating of "Uncle Tomism"
>
> >Uncle Tomism (OED 1863)
> >
> >1852 Literary World 20 Nov. 329 ff. (ProQuest)
> >
> >Uncle Tomism has a new recruit in no less distinguished and artistacal a
> person than George Cruikshank.
> >
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
>
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