Broadside entitled 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'

Commentary

The first verse begins: 'I'm thinking of poor Uncle Tom, / So generous, kind, and brave; / The white man came when he was young, / And claim'd him as his slave'. A woodcut illustration has been included at the top of the sheet showing four scantily-clad figures in a clearing.

This song is based on the character of Uncle Tom, taken from the best-selling novel 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852) by abolitionist campaigner Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book has been criticised for its patronising portrayal of African Americans, and the same can also be said of this song's treatment of the character. It ends by expressing a desire for the end of enslavement and asks how anyone can 'enslave his fellow man'.         

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.

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