Thomas Dummer (1739–1781) was an English Member of Parliament for Newport (Isle of Wight) (1765–1768), Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) (1769–1774), Downton in Wiltshire (1774), Wendover in Buckinghamshire (1775–1780) and Lymington in Hampshire (1780–1781).

Political career

Dummer was the son of Thomas Lee Dummer. On his father's death in October 1765, he succeeded him to the family estate at Cranbury Park near Winchester, Hampshire as well as estates at Weston and Netley, near Southampton and at Horninghold in Leicestershire. He also took his father's parliamentary seat at Newport. In 1768, he lost his seat to Hans Sloane who was in the patronage of the influential Hans Stanley.

In 1769, he became M.P. for nearby Yarmouth (1769–1774). Originally, the election was in favour of William Strode and Jervoise Clarke, but on petition the election was reversed in favour of Dummer and Major General the Hon. George Lane Parker.

In the 1774 election, Dummer stood for election at Downton in Wiltshire. He and Thomas Duncombe were initially declared the victors, but on petition it was decided that they had not been duly elected and their opponents, John Cooper and Sir Philip Hales, were declared elected in their place.

The following year, he was elected to represent Wendover in Buckinghamshire before returning to Hampshire in 1780 as M.P. for Lymington until his death in 1781.

In May 1773, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Cranbury Park

On his father's death in 1765, Dummer inherited the family estate at Cranbury Park. In 1770, he purchased the City Cross (also known as the Buttercross) from the Corporation of Winchester, intending to have it re-erected at Cranbury. When his workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city, who "''organised a small riot''" and they were forced to abandon their task. The agreement with the city was cancelled and Dummer erected a lath and plaster facsimile, which stood in the park for about sixty years before it was destroyed by the weather.

Undaunted by his failure to acquire the City Cross to grace the estate, Dummer turned his attention to the ruins of Netley Abbey, which he also owned, and moved the north transept of the abbey to Cranbury Park, where it can be still be seen as a folly in the gardens of the house (at ). The ruins comprise an arch, the base of a pillar, and a scaled-down gateway tower. The rear of the gateway has been made into a keeper's lodge, and is known to the village of Otterbourne as "the Castle" and is marked as such on the Ordnance Survey map.

Thomas Dummer died without heirs in 1781, leaving his property at Cranbury and Netley and also at Horninghold in Leicestershire first to his widow, Harriet, with reversion to his life-long friend Thomas Chamberlayne. Harriet Dummer married Thomas Chamberlayne, and after his death, which presumably occurred very shortly afterwards, she married the artist Nathaniel Dance, (later Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Bt) whose brother George Dance had designed the present-day house at Cranbury, built in 1780.

References

External links

The Family of Dummer of British Origin

The families of Dummer

Category:1739 births Category:1781 deaths Category:British MPs 1761–1768 Category:British MPs 1768–1774 Category:British MPs 1774–1780 Category:British MPs 1780–1784 Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

name	Thomas Pridgen
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Thomas Armon Pridgen
alias	"Tha Predator"
birth date	November 23, 1983
origin	El Cerrito, California, U.S.
instrument	Drums
genre	Jazz, gospel, experimental, Fusion, progressive rock, hard rock
occupation	Drummer
years active	1999-present
associated acts	The MemorialsThe Mars VoltaChristian ScottWicked WisdomKeyshia Cole
website	Thomas Pridgen unofficial website
notable instruments	}}

Thomas Armon Pridgen (born November 23, 1983 in Alameda County, California) is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 31, 2006 until October 23, 2009, and currently the drummer for his own project The Memorials.

Biography

Pridgen won the Guitar Center Drum-Off at age 9 and at age 10 was the youngest recipient for a Zildjian endorsement in the nearly 400 year history of the company. Pridgen is also naturally left-handed, but plays the drum kit as if he is a right-hander with his kit set-up right-handed. Thomas has studied with David Garibaldi, Walfredo Reyes Sr, Troy Lucketta, and Curtis Nutall. He endorses DW Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Audix Microphones, and ProMark Drumsticks. Thomas was also the recipient of a 4 year scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 1999 at the age of 15; he was the youngest musician to ever receive this scholarship. He has played in clinics with Walfredo Reyes, Jr. and Dennis Chambers. By his teenage years he had already done studio sessions with many Bay Area Gospel artists.

In 2006, Pridgen received a call from Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta:

In 2007, Pridgen became the new permanent drummer for The Mars Volta. Pridgen's first appearance was at the March 12th show in New Zealand, where the band debuted the song "Idle Tooth" which was later renamed "Wax Simulacra" for the forthcoming album. After shows in New Zealand and Australia, The Mars Volta toured a few West Coast venues as the headliner, then entered the studio to record their fourth LP, ''The Bedlam in Goliath''. Pridgen's style on ''Bedlam in Goliath'' used "blistering 32nd-note full-set combinations, stunning single-stroke rolls, and blazing single bass drum patterns" along with creative and precise paradiddle technique.

Thomas Pridgen has been voted as Best Up and Coming Drummer by Modern Drummer magazine.

Besides his work with The Mars Volta, he has also been involved with Christian Scott and Wicked Wisdom. Thomas, for some time, was working with singer Keyshia Cole as her live and session drummer and being her music director. He also was featured alongside with Tony Royster Jr., Eric Moore, and others in drumming DVD entitled "Shed Sessions", a Gospel Chops DVD.

Thomas was also featured on the Modern Drummer 2008 DVD with footage from his performance at the festival.

On one of the last dates of the Bedlam Tour in Mexico, Thomas and the band 'wrecked' the kit and cracked the 20"x24" acrylic bass drum. After this Thomas was seen only using DW maple jazz kits live, but he now uses his Acrylic kit again with his new band The Memorials.

Exit from The Mars Volta (2009)

In October 2009, Pridgen left The Mars Volta. To this day, the band has made no official statement as to the reason for the departure. Dave Elitch subsequently filled in the drummer position for the remainder of the tour. Pridgen's permanent replacement in the band has been confirmed as Deantoni Parks.

The Memorials (December, 2009)

In December 2009, Thomas Pridgen formed another band called The Memorials with friends and former students from Berklee College of Music - Viveca Hawkins (Vocals) and Nick Brewer (Guitars).

The band's self titled album was released on January 18, 2011.

Equipment

With The Mars Volta

Bedlam Tour Kit (2007 - 2008)

DW Collector's Series & Zildjian Cymbals:

Drums - Clear Acrylic

*12x8" Tom

*13x9" Tom

*15x13" Floor Tom

*16x14" Floor Tom

*18x16" Floor Tom

*24x20" Bass Drum

*14x6.5" DW Copper Snare

Cymbals - Zildjian

*18" [x2] A Crashes used as Hi-Hats

*24" A Medium Ride

*20" A Armand Ride

*20" A Custom Crash

*20" Oriental Crash Of Doom

*18" A Custom EFX Crash, 9" Oriental Splash, 16" Oriental China (x2) (cymbals stacked)

*19" K Custom Hybrid China

Octahedron Tour Kit (2009)

DW Jazz Series & Zildjian Cymbals:

Drums - Maple & Gum

*12x12" Tom

*13x13" Tom

*15x13" Floor Tom

*16x14" Floor Tom

*18x16" Floor Tom

*24x20" Bass Drum

*14x7 Red Maple Snare

Cymbals - Zildjian

*18" A Crashes [x2] used as Hi-Hats

*24" A Medium Ride

*24" K Custom Ride [x2]

*18" A Custom EFX Crash, 9" Oriental Splash, 16" Oriental China (x2) (cymbals stacked)

*20" A Custom China

*20" Crash of Doom

With The Memorials

DW Collector's Series & Zildjian Cymbals:

Drums - Clear Acrylic

*12x8" Tom

*13x9" Tom

*15x13" Floor Tom

*16x14" Floor Tom

*24x20" Bass Drum

*14x6.5" DW Stainless steel snare

Cymbals - Zildjian

*19" [x2] Z3 Custom Crashes used as Hi-Hats

*24" A Medium Ride

*20" A Custom Crash

*20" Z3 Crash

*18" A Custom EFX Crash, 9" Oriental Splash, 16" Oriental China (x2) (cymbals stacked)

*20" A Custom China

*Wind Chimes

Drum Heads - Evans

*Toms: (12", 13", 15", 16") Clear G2s (top), Clear Resonants (bottom)

*Bass Drum: (24") Clear EQ3 (batter), Clear EQ3 (with small hole) (resonant)

*Snares : (14") Clear G2 (top), 300 Hazy (bottom)

Thomas also used DW 9000 Series Hardware and Pedals, Pro-Mark TX510 Thomas Pridgen Autograph drumsticks, & Shure Microphones.

Discography

For a more complete discography, see Thomas Pridgen's entry on Album Credits.

With Foxy Shazam

"Explicit" (2010)

With Christian Scott

''Rewind That'' (2006)

With Eric Gales

''Crystal Vision'' - (2006)

''Psychedelic Underground'' - (2007)

With Juliette Lewis

''Terra Incognita'' (2009)

With The Mars Volta

''The Bedlam in Goliath'' (2008)

''Octahedron'' (2009)

With Omar Rodríguez-López

''Calibration (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far)'' (2007)

''Los Sueños de un Higado'' (2009)

''Xenophanes'' (2009)

With Victor Little

''Inner Portrait'' (2009)

With Zenith Patrol

''VU'' (2005)

References

Drum Channel: Thomas Pridgen Artist Bio

External links

The Mars Volta official website

Thomas Pridgen's on Album Credits

Drum Channel | Thomas Pridgen

Facebook | Thomas Pridgen - The Memorials

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:People from Alameda County, California Category:African American drummers

it:Thomas Pridgen pl:Thomas Pridgen sv:Thomas Pridgen

name	Thomas Lang
landscape	yes
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Thomas Lang
birth date	August 05, 1967
origin	Vienna, Austria
genre	Instrumental rock, pop, jazz, progressive rock, heavy metal, avant-garde metal
occupation	Musician, producer
instrument	Drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals
years active	1985–present
associated acts	stOrk, John Wetton, Vienna Art Orchestra, Falco, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes, Robbie Williams, Steve Hackett, Nina Hagen, Terabite, Schwarzenator
notable instruments	}}

Thomas Lang (born August 5, 1967, Vienna) is an Austrian drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. He is the founding member of the Los Angeles-based progressive/avant garde metal trio, stOrk.

Lang took up drumming at the age of 5. In addition to lessons at local music schools and years of private tuition, he was classically trained at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. After leaving the conservatory in 1985, Lang began working professionally working his way through the European pop, rock and jazz scenes. Throughout his career as a session musician he has played for various artists such as John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes, Peter Gabriel, Asia, Nik Kershaw, Tina Turner, Robbie Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Sugababes, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Ronan Keating, Steve Hackett, 911, Boyzone, Falco, Nina Hagen, Steve Jones, Mick Jones, The Commodores, George Michael, Doogie White, B*Witched, Gianna Nannini, Lighthouse Family, Westlife, Kylie Minogue, The Blockheads, Sertab Erener, Vienna Art Orchestra, Bonnie Tyler, and Nadine Beiler, among others. In 1995 Lang released his debut solo release, ''Mediator'', which topped the charts in Europe and garnered positive reviews.

Instructional material

Lang has released the DVD ''Creative Control'', teaching advanced drumming techniques. In 2005 he headlined the UK Drumfest held in Birmingham alongside Kenny Aronoff and Jimmy Chamberlin.

Lang’s original practice regime eventually became the basis for his 2-part series of instructional videos, “Ultimatives Schlagzeug I & II” which were originally released in 1995. The videos were re-released on DVD in 2004 by Hudson Music. In 2003 Lang released the instructional DVD and book “Creative Control”.

His follow-up DVD and book, "Creative Coordination & Advanced Foot Technique" was released in November 2006. Lang maintains a website to offer his books and DVDs. In 2010, he auditioned for Dream Theater, as revealed by a recent documentary trailer released by the band, but did not win the audition; the eventual winner revealed to be Mike Mangini.

In 2010 Lang began hosting the Thomas Lang Drumming Boot Camp, a touring educational drum camp that has been hosted around the world in various locations including Los Angeles, London, New York, Berlin and Austria among other locations.

Equipment

Lang is a 10-year endorser of Meinl cymbals. He has designed a number of cymbals with Meinl: the 16" Synthetik Crash, 17" Kompressor Crash, 18" Kinetik Crash, 18" Signal Crash/Klub Ride, and Filter Chinas. Lang stated on Creative Control that when he designed his cymbals, he wanted to recreate electronic cymbal sounds in acoustic cymbals. One of Lang's goals was to create a pitch-matched range of contemporary crash cymbals that provide acoustic and electronic drummers with modern sounds that resemble artificially engineered cymbal samples - “Tom’s Becken” launched in 2002. In 2004 Thomas Lang worked with Meinl again to design the “Fast Hats” , and a series of “Filter Chinas”.

In 2002, the Remo Corporation approached Thomas to produce the “Thomas Lang Practice Kit".

Other Thomas Lang products are Vic Firth’s “Thomas Lang signature model” stick and the “Thomas Lang signature Bigfoot bassdrum beaters” .

After endorsing Sonor Drums for 20 years, in 2010 he signed with Drum Workshop (DW) drums.

Awards

1999, 2001: Best studio drummer (''Rhythm'' magazine)

2002: Best pop drummer, Best all-around drummer (''Rhythm'' magazine)

2002: Best drummer (''Drums and Percussion'' magazine)

2003: Best clinician (''Modern Drummer'' magazine)

2004: Best DVD, Best clinician runner up, Best drummer runner-up (''Modern Drummer'' magazine); Best DVD, Best new signature product, Best drummer (''Drummer'' magazine); Best studio drummer (''Rhythm'' magazine); Best recorded drum performance (''Sticks'' magazine)

2005: Best pop drummer, Best Clinician, Best Solo Drum performance (''Rhythm'' magazine); Best DVD, Best all around drummer, Best drum event (''Drummer'' magazine)

2006: Best drum clinician (''DRUM!'' Magazine), Best drumming video/DVD (Drum! Magazine); Best DVD, Best drummer (''Rhythm'' magazine)

2007: Best DVD, Best drummer (''Rhythm'' magazine); Best DVD, Best drummer, Best Clinician (''Modern Drummer'' magazine)

Aurora Gold Award 2007 for Best Video Production

2008: Best Clinician (''Modern Drummer'' Magazine); Best Clinician (''DRUM!'' Magazine)

Selected discography

Thomas Lang - ''Mediator'' (1995)

John Wetton - ''Live at the Progfest L.A.'' (1997)

Thomas Lang - ''Creative Control'' (2003)

Thomas Lang - ''Creative Coordination'' (2006)

Thomas Lang - ''Something Along Those Lines'' (2007)

B*Witched - ''Jump Up, Jump Down'' (Live)

Willi Langer - ''Colours of the Octopus''

Willi Langer - ''Signs of Life''

Billy Liesegang - ''No Strings Attached''

Vienna Art Orchestra - ''Songs and other Adventures''

Vienna Art Orchestra - ''Art and Fun''

John Wetton - ''Arkangel''

John Wetton - ''Live in Tokyo''

John Wetton - ''Live in Argentina''

StOrk - ''StOrk'' (2011)

References

External links

Thomas Lang on Drummerworld

Thomas Lang on MySpace

Thomas Lang Biography on drumlessons.com

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Austrian drummers Category:People from Vienna Category:Jazz drummers Category:Heavy metal drummers Category:Rock drummers Category:Session musicians Category:Multi-instrumentalists Category:Austrian songwriters Category:Austrian record producers Category:Progressive rock musicians

de:Thomas Lang (Schlagzeuger) fr:Thomas Lang it:Thomas Lang pl:Thomas Lang sq:Thomas Lang

Name	Rufus Thomas
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Rufus Thomas, Jr.
Born	March 27, 1917 Cayce, Mississippi, United States
Died	Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	R&B;, Memphis soul, southern soul, blues, funk
Occupation	Singer, comedian, television host, disc jockey
Years active	1936–2001
Label	Sun, Stax
Associated acts	Carla Thomas, Marvell Thomas
Website	}}

Rufus Thomas, Jr. (March 27, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s and on Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the father of soul singer Carla Thomas and keyboard player Marvell Thomas. A third child, Vaneese, a former French teacher, has a recording studio in upstate New York and sings for television commercials.

Early life and education

Born a sharecropper's son in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi, Thomas moved to Memphis with his family at age 2. His mother was “a church woman.” Thomas made his artistic debut at the age of 6 playing a frog in a school theatrical production. Much later in life, he would impersonate all kinds of animals: screeching cats, funky chickens and penguins, and mournful dogs. By age 10, he was a tap dancer, performing in amateur productions at Memphis' Booker T. Washington High School.

Thomas attended one semester at Tennessee A&I; University, but due to economic conditions left to pursue a career as a professional entertainer, joining up in 1936 with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, an all-black revue that toured the South. He then worked for twenty-two years at a textile plant and didn't leave that job until about 1963, around the time of his “Dog” hits. He started at WDIA in 1951 (despite biographies placing his start a year earlier). At WDIA, he hosted an afternoon show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B; music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas's mentor was Nat D. Williams, a pioneer black deejay at WDIA as well as Thomas's high school history teacher, columnist for black newspapers, and host of an amateur show at Memphis's Palace Theater. For years Thomas himself took hosting duties for the amateur show and, in that capacity, is credited with the discovery of B.B. King.

Professional singing career

He made his professional singing debut at the Elks Club on Beale Street in Memphis, filling in for another singer at the last minute. He made his first 78 rpm record in 1943 for the Star Talent label in Texas, "I'll Be a Good Boy", backed with "I'm So Worried."

He also became a long-standing on-air personality with WDIA, one of the first radio stations in the US to feature an all-black staff and programming geared toward blacks. His celebrity was such that in 1953 he recorded an "answer record" to Big Mama Thornton's hit, "Hound Dog" called "Bear Cat" released on Sun Records. Although the song was the label's first hit, a copyright-infringement suit ensued and nearly bankrupted Sam Phillips' record label. Later, Rufus was one of the African American artists released by Sam Phillips as he oriented his label more toward white audiences and signed the likes of Elvis Presley.

The prime of Rufus' recording career came in the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was on the roster of Memphis label, Stax, having one of the first hit sides at the historic soul and blues label, "Walking the Dog", (#5 R&B;, #10 Pop) in 1963. Rufus is thus the first, and still the only, father to debut in the Hot 100's top 10 after his daughter debuted there. Rufus' daughter Carla also reached #10, with "Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)" on 27 March 1961.

At Stax, Rufus recorded songs when he had something to record. He was often backed by Booker T. and the MG's or the Bar-Kays.

The early 1970s brought him three major hits, including "(Do The) Push and Pull" in 1970, his only number one R&B; hit (#25 Pop). Earlier that year, "Do the Funky Chicken" had reached #5 R&B; and #28 Pop. A third dance-oriented release in 1971, "The Breakdown" climbed to #2 R&B; and #31 Pop. He had several more less successful hits until Stax closed its doors in the mid-70s.

Late in his career, for years, Rufus performed at the Porretta Soul Festival in Porretta Terme, Italy. The outdoor amphitheater in which he performed has been re-named "Rufus Thomas Park." In 1996, Rufus and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in Atlanta. Highlights of his career included calming an unruly crowd at the Wattstax Festival in 1972 and performing with James Brown's band.

He played an important part in the Stax reunion of 1988, and had a small role in the 1989 Jim Jarmusch film Mystery Train. Rufus released an album of straight-ahead blues, That Woman is Poison!, with Alligator Records in 1990. In 1997, Rufus released an album, "Rufus Live!," with Ecko Records.

Thomas was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. He was interviewed by the public radio program American Routes (aired in February 2002). His last appearance was in the D.A. Pennebaker-directed documentary ''Only the Strong Survive'' (2003) in which he co-stars with his daughter Carla.

Death

He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. A street is named in his honor, just off Beale Street in Memphis. He is buried next to his wife at the New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Discography

Albums

1963 ''Walking The Dog'' (Stax704)

1969 ''May I Have Your Ticket Please'' (Stax STS-2022) ''Unreleased''

1970 ''Do The Funky Chicken'' (Stax STS-2028)

1971 ''Doing The Push and Pull at PJ's'' (Stax STS-2039)

1972 ''Did You Heard Me?'' (Stax STS-3004)

1972 ''Crown Prince of Dance'' (Stax STS-30048)

Singles

1962 Can’t Ever Let You Go / It’s Aw’right (Stax126)

1963 The Dog / Did You Ever Love A Woman (Stax130)

1963 Walking The Dog / Fine And Mellow (Stax140)

1963 Walking The Dog / You Said (Stax140) mkII

1964 Can Your Monkey Do The Dog / I Wanna Get Married (Stax144)

1964 Somebody Stole My Dog / I Want To Be Loved (Stax149)

1964 Jump Back / All Night Worker (Stax157)

1965 Little Sally Walker / Baby Walk (Stax167)

1965 Willy Nilly / Sho’gonna Mess Him Up (Stax173)

1965 The World Is Round / Chicken Scratch (Stax178)

1966 Sister’s Got A Boyfriend / Talking ‘Bout True Love (Stax200)

1967 Sophisticated Sissy / Greasy Spoon (Stax221)

1967 Down Ta’ My House / Steady Holding On (Stax240)

1967 The Memphis Train / I Think I Made A Boo Boo (Stax250)

1968 Funky Mississippi / Hard To Get Along With (Stax0010)

1968 Funky Way / I Want To Hold You (Stax0022)

1969 Do The Funky Chicken / Turn Your Damper Down (Stax0059)

1970 The Preacher And The Bear / 60 Minute Man (Stax0071)

1970 (Do The) Push And Pull Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0079)

1971 The World Is Round / I Love You For Sentimental Reasons (Stax0090)

1971 The Breakdown Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0098)

1972 Do The Funky Penguin Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0112)

1972 6-3-8 (That’s The Number To Play) / Love Trap (Stax0129)

1972 Itch And Scratch Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0140)

1973 Funky Robot Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0153)

1973 You Don’t Me No More / I’m Still In Love With You (Stax0177)

1973 I’ll Be Your Santa Baby / That Makes Christmas Day (Stax0187)

1973 The Funky Bird / Steal A Little (Stax0192)

1974 Boogie Ain’t Nttin’ Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0219)

1975 Do The Double Bump Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0236)

1976 DJump Back ’75 Part 1 / Part 2 (Stax0254)

See also

Rufus and Carla

References

Greenberg, Steve. ''Do the Funky Somethin': The Best of Rufus Thomas'' (liner notes), Rhino Records, 1996.

Unterberger, Richie. [ Rufus Thomas Biography] at Allmusic.com. Retrieved December 26, 2005.

External links

Rufus Thomas Biography at Yahoo.com

Rufus Thomas Biography at Alligator Records

http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/musicians/ThomasR.html

http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/RufusThomas.htm

http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Rufus%20Thomas.html

http://www.highbridgeaudio.com/americanroutes.html His ''American Routes'' interview.

Porretta Soul Festival

Category:1917 births Category:2001 deaths Category:People from Marshall County, Mississippi Category:Tennessee State University alumni Category:American blues singers Category:American blues musicians Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:American male singers Category:African American singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:American funk singers Category:American funk musicians Category:American soul singers Category:American soul musicians Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sun Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Chess Records artists Category:Deaths from heart failure

de:Rufus Thomas fr:Rufus Thomas it:Rufus Thomas nl:Rufus Thomas sv:Rufus Thomas

Uncle Tom is a derogatory term for a person of a low status group who is overly subservient with authority, or a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people.

The term comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Critical and popular views of both the character and the novel have shifted over time, leading to a shift in the term's use.

Original characterization and critical evaluations

At the time of the novel's initial publication in 1851 Uncle Tom was a rejection of the existing stereotypes of minstrel shows; Stowe's melodramatic story humanized the suffering of slavery for White audiences by portraying Tom as a Christlike figure who is ultimately martyred, beaten to death by a cruel master because Tom refuses to betray the whereabouts of two women who escape from slavery. Stowe reversed the gender conventions of slave narratives by juxtaposing Uncle Tom's feminine passivity against the brave daring of three African American women who escape from slavery.

The novel was very influential and commercially successful, first published in serial form in 1851-1852 and in book version from 1852 onward. An estimated 500,000 copies of the novel itself had sold in the United States and internationally by 1853, including unauthorized reprints. Senator Charles Sumner credited ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' for the election of Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln himself reportedly quipped that Stowe had triggered the American Civil War. Frederick Douglass praised the novel as "a flash to light a million camp fires in front of the embattled hosts of slavery". Despite Douglass's enthusiasm, an anonymous 1852 reviewer for William Lloyd Garrison's publication ''The Liberator'' suspected a racial double standard in the idealization of Uncle Tom:

:Uncle Tom’s character is sketched with great power and rare religious perception. It triumphantly exemplifies the nature, tendency, and results of CHRISTIAN NON-RESISTANCE. We are curious to know whether Mrs. Stowe is a believer in the duty of non-resistance for the White man, under all possible outrage and peril, as for the Black man… [For whites in parallel circumstances, it is often said] Talk not of overcoming evil with good—it is madness! Talk not of peacefully submitting to chains and stripes—it is base servility! Talk not of servants being obedient to their masters—let the blood of tyrants flow! How is this to be explained or reconciled? Is there one law of submission and non-resistance for the Black man, and another of rebellion and conflict for the white man? When it is the whites who are trodden in the dust, does Christ justify them in taking up arms to vindicate their rights? And when it is the blacks who are thus treated, does Christ require them to be patient, harmless, long-suffering, and forgiving? Are there two Christs?

James Weldon Johnson, a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, expresses an ambivalent opinion in his autobiography:

:For my part, I was never an admirer of Uncle Tom, nor of his type of goodness; but I believe that there were lots of old Negroes as foolishly good as he; the proof of which is that they knowingly stayed and worked on the plantations that furnished sinews for the army which was fighting to keep them enslaved.”

In 1949 American writer James Baldwin rejected the emasculation of the title character "robbed of his humanity and divested of his sex" as the price of spiritual salvation for a dark-skinned man in a fiction whose African-American characters, in Baldwin's view, were invariably two dimensional stereotypes. To Baldwin, Stowe was closer to a pamphleteer than a novelist and her artistic vision was fatally marred by polemics and racism that manifested especially in her handling of the title character. Stowe had stated that her sons had wept when she first read them the scene of Uncle Tom's death, but after Baldwin's essay it ceased being respectable to accept the melodrama of the Uncle Tom story. Uncle Tom became what critic Linda Williams describes as "an epithet of servility" and the novel's reputation plummeted until feminist critics led by Jane Tompkins reassessed the tale's female characters. According to Debra J. Rosenthal in an introduction to a collection of critical appraisals for the ''Routledge Literary Sourcebook on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin'', overall reactions have been mixed with some critics praising the novel for affirming the humanity of the African American characters and for the risks Stowe assumed in taking a very public stand against slavery before abolitionism had become a socially acceptable cause, and others criticizing the very limited terms upon which those characters' humanity was affirmed and the artistic shortcomings of political melodrama.

Inspiration

A specific impetus for the novel was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which imposed heavy fines upon law enforcement personnel in Northern states if they refused to assist the return of people who escaped from slavery. The new law also stripped African Americans of the right to request a jury trial or to testify on their own behalf, even if they were legally free, whenever a single claimant presented a sworn affidavit of ownership. The same law authorized a $1000 fine and six months imprisonment for anyone who knowingly harbored or assisted a fugitive slave. These terms infuriated Stowe, so the novel was written, read, and debated as a political abolitionist tract.

Stowe drew inspiration for the Uncle Tom character from several sources. The best-known of these was Josiah Henson, whose autobiography was originally published in 1849 and later republished in extensively revised editions after the publication of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Henson was enslaved at birth in 1789. He became a Christian at age eighteen and took up preaching. Henson attempted to purchase his freedom for $450, but after selling his personal assets to raise $350 and signing a promissory note for the remainder Henson's owner raised the price to $1000; Henson was unable to prove that the original agreement had been for a lesser amount. Shortly afterward Henson was ordered on a trip south to New Orleans, and when he learned that he was to be sold there he obtained a weapon and contemplated murdering his white companions, but decided against violence because his Christian morals forbade it. A sudden illness in one of his companions forced their return to Kentucky, and shortly afterward Henson escaped north with his family, settling in Canada where he became a civic leader.

Stowe read the first edition of Henson's narrative and later confirmed that she had incorporated elements from it into ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Kentucky and New Orleans figure in both Henson's narrative and the novel's settings, and some other story elements are similar.

In the public imagination, however, Henson became synonymous with Uncle Tom. After Stowe's death her son and grandson claimed she and Henson had met before ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' was written, but the chronology does not hold up to scrutiny and she probably drew material only from his published autobiography.

Minstrel stock character

Both the novel and its title character inspired numerous derivative works during the decade after its release, some of which lampooned and distorted the portrayal of the title character with politically loaded overtones. American copyright law before 1856 did not give novel authors any control over derivative stage adaptations, so Stowe neither approved the adaptations nor profited from them. Minstrel show retellings in particular, usually performed by white men in blackface, tended to be derisive and pro-slavery, transforming Uncle Tom from Christian martyr to a fool or an apologist for slavery.

Adapted theatrical performances of the novel remained in continual production in the United States for at least eighty years. These representations had a lasting cultural impact and influenced the pejorative nature of the term ''Uncle Tom'' in later popular use.

Although not all minstrel depictions of Uncle Tom were negative, the dominant version developed into a stock character very different from Stowe's hero. Stowe's Uncle Tom was a muscular and virile man who refused to obey when ordered to beat other slaves; the stock character of minstrel shows became a shuffling asexual individual with a receding hairline and graying hair. To Jo-Ann Morgan, author of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin as Visual Culture'', these shifting representations undermined the subversive layers of Stowe's original characterization by redefining Uncle Tom until he fit within prevailing racist norms. Particularly after the Civil War, as the political thrust of the novel which had arguably helped to precipitate that war became obsolete to actual political discourse, popular depictions of the title character recast him within the apologetics of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The virile father of the abolitionist serial and first book edition degenerated into a decrepit old man, and with that transformation the character lost the capacity for resistance that had originally given meaning to his choices. Stowe never meant Uncle Tom to be a derided name, but the term as a pejorative has developed based on how later versions of the character, stripped of his strength, were depicted on stage.

Or as Claire Parfait, author of ''The Publishing History of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852-2002'' opines, the many alterations in retellings of the Uncle Tom story demonstrate an impulse to correct the retellers' perceptions of its flaws and "the capacity of the novel to irritate and rankle, even a century and a half after its first publication."

See also

Tom Shows

House Negro

Jump Jim Crow

Acting white

List of ethnic slurs

Uncle Tom syndrome

References

Notes

External links

An article on the Uncle Tom caricature

Category:Pejorative terms for people Category:Ethnic and religious slurs Category:American slang Category:Fictional slaves Category:American culture Category:Stereotypes of African Americans Category:Racism Category:African-American culture

de:Uncle Tom es:Tío Tom gl:Tío Tom nl:Uncle Tom no:Onkel Tom pt:Uncle Tom