tom-a-lee, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tom-a-lee n.

[a black subservient enough to have worked for the Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807–70)]

(US black) a subservient black.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines xviii: Pig brothers, Tom-a-lees, they jus’ black people, tommin’ fo d’ white folks.