Where did the term uncle tom come from

As "personal historians," Tom and I often use these terms interchangeably when blogging or teaching about the concept of writing one's life stories.

But does that signify that they all mean the same thing?

Non, nein, nope.

The real uncle tom documentary

The real uncle tom documentary

Uncle tom meaning

Josiah henson autobiography

Why is uncle tom an insult

What is the opposite of an uncle tom

Each of the terms we use to describe life writing has a discrete meaning. (The reason, quite frankly, that we mash them all together so often is that each term has "keyword" value in a blog, and using them all helps more people find our blog posts online.)

Each of you will have your own purpose in writing about your life, and each of these forms of writing has its own benefits and challenges. 

Here's the rundown:

Autobiography.

In an autobiography, one writes the story of the whole of one's life, a comprehensive overview of life experiences from birth (or ancestry) to the present. An autobiography usually contains factual or historical data such as names, dates, and plac