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{{Short description|Brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods}}
]
{{About|the food products brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima|the vaudeville performer using the Aunt Jemima stage name|Tess Gardella|the brand that replaced Aunt Jemima|Pearl Milling Company}}
]
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2022}}
'''Aunt Jemima''' was an American breakfast brand for ], ], and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889 by the ] and was advertised as the first "]" cooking product.<ref name=BIA>{{cite book|last=Kern-Foxworth|first=Marilyn|title=Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in advertising, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow|publisher=Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press|year=1994|url=http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR5184&chapterID=GR5184-561&path=books/greenwood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424192836/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR5184&chapterID=GR5184-561&path=books%2Fgreenwood|archive-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name=history_2007-08-23>{{cite web|url=http://www.auntjemima.com/aj_history/|title=Aunt Jemima—Our History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823123017/http://www.auntjemima.com/aj_history/|archive-date=August 23, 2007|publisher=Quaker Oats}}</ref>


Aunt Jemima was modeled after, and has been a famous example of, the ].<ref name=caricature_mammy>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/diversity/african/1-mammy/index.html|title=Caricatures of African Americans: Mammy|date=November 25, 2012|publisher=]|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622062350/https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/diversity/african/1-mammy/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Due to the "Mammy" stereotype's historical ties to the ] era, ] announced in June 2020 that the Aunt Jemima brand would be discontinued "to make progress toward racial equality",<ref name=nbc_2020-06-17>{{cite news|title=Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is 'based on a racial stereotype'|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aunt-jemima-brand-will-change-name-remove-image-quaker-says-n1231260|first=Ben|last=Kesslen|website=NBC News|date=June 17, 2020|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216085007/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aunt-jemima-brand-will-change-name-remove-image-quaker-says-n1231260|url-status=live}}</ref> leading to the Aunt Jemima image being removed by the fourth quarter of 2020.<ref name=fortune_2021-02-11>{{Cite magazine |last=Kowitt |first=Beth |date=February 11, 2021 |title=The inside story behind Aunt Jemima's new name |url=https://fortune.com/2021/02/11/aunt-jemima-new-name-pearl-milling-company/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409165937/https://fortune.com/2021/02/11/aunt-jemima-new-name-pearl-milling-company/ |archive-date=2022-04-09 |access-date=2022-04-09 |magazine=Fortune |language=en}}</ref>
'''Aunt Jemima''' is a ] for ] ], ], and other breakfast foods. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. ] bought the brand in 1926. Aunt Jemima frozen products were licensed out to ] in 1996. She loooooves serving the White man!


In June 2021, amidst ],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boyce|first=Travis|date=Summer 2020|title=Cruel Summer1 {{!}} Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy|url=http://journaldialogue.org/issues/v7-issue-2/cruel-summer/|website=Journaldialogue.org|access-date=2021-03-04|language=en-US}}</ref> the Aunt Jemima brand name was discontinued by its current owner, ], with all products rebranded to Pearl Milling Company, the name of the company that produced the original pancake mix product.<ref name=fortune_2021-02-11/><ref name="cnn_2021-02-06">{{cite news |last=Alcorn |first=Chauncey |date=February 9, 2021 |title=Aunt Jemima finally has a new name |website=CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/09/business/aunt-jemima-new-name/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=2021-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210002524/https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/09/business/aunt-jemima-new-name/index.html |archive-date=2021-02-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kubota |first=Samantha |date=9 Feb 2021 |title=Brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima reveals new name |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/brand-formerly-known-aunt-jemima-reveals-new-name-n1257206 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515090159/https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/brand-formerly-known-aunt-jemima-reveals-new-name-n1257206 |archive-date=2022-05-15 |access-date=2021-02-10 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> The Aunt Jemima name remains in use in the brand's tagline, "Same great taste as Aunt Jemima."<ref name=fortune_2021-02-11/>
The impetus for Aunt Jemima comes from a ]/] song of the same name. ] of the ] saw the song being sung by ] performers ] wearing an apron and kerchief, and appropriated the character.


] portrayed the Aunt Jemima character at the 1893 ] in Chicago and was one of the first Black corporate models in the United States.<ref name=BIA/> Subsequent advertising agencies hired dozens of actresses to perform the role as the first organized sales promotion campaign.<ref name=Crocker_1996>{{cite news|url=https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/Homage-to-Aunt-Jemima-a-tricky-business-15346470.php|title=Homage to Aunt Jemima remains a tricky business|last=Crocker|first=Ronnie|date=June 17, 2020|newspaper=Beaumont Enterprise|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030175727/https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/Homage-to-Aunt-Jemima-a-tricky-business-15346470.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The untold story of the real 'Aunt Jemima' and the fight to preserve her legacy |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/untold-story-real-aunt-jemima-fight-preserve-legacy/story?id=72293603 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>
Aunt Jemima is depicted as a plump, smiling, bright-eyed ] woman, originally wearing a kerchief over her hair. Her backstory is that she would service the slave masters by servicing them with sex and giving them her home-made grittle cake sandwiches. There was one incident when the woman playing "Aunt Jemima took pan full of hot boiling grease and threw it onto the slavemasters face, after that she was taken to the hospital and "Put-down". Originally, she was represented as a ] and was the most commonplace representation of the stereotypical "]" character.


==History==
The woman whose likeness was painted for the logo was Anna Short Harrington. Nancy Green, born a slave in ], was hired by ] to play the Jemima character from 1890 to her death in 1924. Green, as Jemima, operated a pancake-cooking display at the ] in ] during 1893, beside the "world's largest flour barrel". ] also portrayed the character on radio.
{{main article|Pearl Milling Company}}


In 1888, '']'' editor ] and his friend Charles G. Underwood bought a small ] at 214 North 2nd St. in ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=What is the history of the brand? |url=https://contact.pepsico.com/pearlmillingcompany/article/what-is-the-history-of-pearl-milling-company |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016002209/https://contact.pepsico.com/pearlmillingcompany/article/what-is-the-history-of-pearl-milling-company |archive-date=2022-10-16 |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=contact.pepsico.com}}</ref> Rutt and Underwood's "Pearl Milling Company" produced a range of milled products (such as ] and ]) using a pearl milling process.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-10 |title=What Does Aunt Jemima's New Name, Pearl Milling Company, Mean? |url=https://outsider.com/news/what-does-aunt-jemima-new-name-pearl-milling-company-mean/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408202347/https://outsider.com/news/what-does-aunt-jemima-new-name-pearl-milling-company-mean/ |archive-date=2022-04-08 |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=Outsider |language=en-US}}</ref> Facing a glutted flour market, after a year of experimentation they began selling their excess flour in paper bags with the generic label "Self-Rising Pancake Flour" (later dubbed "the first ]").<ref name=BIA/><ref name=history_2007-08-23/><ref name=marquette>{{cite book|title=Brands, Trademarks, and Good Will: The Story of the Quaker Oats Company|first=Arthur F.|last=Marquette|publisher=]|year=1967|asin=B0006BOVBM}}</ref>
Aunt Jemima was not the only depiction of a black person to be used in early advertising. Often caricatures of blacks were featured prominently as trademarks of several products. Most commonly, such images were used to sell food, cleaning agents, agricultural produce, and products that were black or brown, such as coffee, ink, and chocolate. Examples include ], featuring a cook named "]" (the word itself a racial slur); Fairbank's Gold Dust, a powdered laundry detergent, featuring "Goldie" and "Dusty", the "Gold Dust Twins"; J & P Coat's Threads, featuring "]" and "Mammy" cookie jars. Objections to the depiction of Aunt Jemima and other black advertising date back to the 1920s. One important characteristic of the Aunt Jemima trademark is its stereotypical depiction of black women as servants. Aunt Jemima was characteristic of most advertising with black women as a reminder that their place was in the kitchen, and the majority of advertising was associated with food. Many blacks found Aunt Jemima in particular to be an obvious and insensitive reminder of slavery.


===Branding and trademark===
An early advertisement, for example, contained the following copy:
To distinguish their pancake mix, in late 1889 Rutt appropriated the ''Aunt Jemima'' name and image from ] posters seen at a ] house in St. Joseph, Missouri.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=marquette/> ''Aunt Jemima'' was portrayed by ], a former slave, of ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/nancy-green-the-original-aunt-jemima/|title=Nancy Green, The Original 'Aunt Jemima' born|publisher=African American Registry}}</ref>
<!-- Unsourced image removed: ] -->


In 1915, the well-known Aunt Jemima brand was the basis for a trademark law ruling that set a new precedent. Previously, ] had protected against infringement by other sellers of the same product, but under the "Aunt Jemima Doctrine", the seller of pancake mix was also protected against infringement by an unrelated seller of a different but related product—pancake syrup.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/30933/how-aunt-jemima-changed-us-trademark-law|title=How Aunt Jemima Changed U.S. Trademark Law|first=Matt|last=Soniak|website=]|date=June 15, 2012|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210013128/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/30933/how-aunt-jemima-changed-us-trademark-law|url-status=live}}</ref>
<blockquote>On the old plantation, Aunt Jemima refused to reveal to a soul the secret of those light fragrant pancakes which she baked for her master and his guests. Only once, long after her master's death did Aunt Jemima reveal her recipe. It's still a secret.</blockquote>
Aunt Jemima became one of the longest continually running logos and trademarks in the history of American advertising.<ref name=NYT_2015-06-24>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/24/besides-the-confederate-flag-what-other-symbols-should-go/can-we-please-finally-get-rid-of-aunt-jemima|title=Can We Please, Finally, Get Rid of 'Aunt Jemima'?|first=Riché|last=Richardson|date=2015-06-24|newspaper=]|archive-date=February 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212202438/https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/24/besides-the-confederate-flag-what-other-symbols-should-go/can-we-please-finally-get-rid-of-aunt-jemima|url-status=live}}</ref>


===Logo===
The phrase "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used as a female version of ] to refer to a black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile.
] family promotion]]
]
The earliest advertising was based upon a vaudeville parody, and it remained a ] for many years.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=caricature_mammy/><ref name=marquette/>


Quaker Oats commissioned ], a nationally known commercial artist, to paint a portrait of an obese actress named Anna Robinson, and the Aunt Jemima package was redesigned around the new likeness.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=BlackHunger/>
The 1950s ] '']'' came under fire for depicting a mammy-like black maid and cook who was somewhat reminiscent of Aunt Jemima. Today, "Beulah" and "Aunt Jemima" are regarded as more or less interchangeable as ].


James J. Jaffee, a freelance artist from the Bronx, New York, also designed one of the images of Aunt Jemima used by Quaker Oats to market the product into the mid-20th century.
The Aunt Jemima trademark has been modified several times over the years. Aunt Jemima is no longer a slave, but either a housewife or some other benevolent mother figure. She has been made younger and more physically attractive, and her kerchief has been eliminated for a more modern hairstyle and ]. This new look remains with the products to this day.


Just as the formula for the mix changed several times over the years, so did the Aunt Jemima image. In 1968, the face of Aunt Jemima became a composited creation. She was slimmed down from her previous appearance, depicting a more "svelte" look, wearing a white collar and a geometric print "headband" still resembling her previous kerchief.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=ChicTrib-89>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-04-28-8904080069-story.html/|title=At Age 100, A New Aunt Jemima|first=Janet|last=Key|date=1989-04-28|website=]|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217053911/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-04-28-8904080069-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=AP-89>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7723978/the-burlington-free-press/|title=Aunt Jemima's Ready for the '90s|first=Peggy|last=Anderson|newspaper=The Burlington Free Press|date=1989-05-02|page=7|agency=]|archive-date=February 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212163430/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7723978/the-burlington-free-press/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Ingrano_2019>{{Cite news|last=Ingrano|first=Terrance|date=February 4, 2019|title=Strange But True: 'I'se in town, honey!'|url=https://www.telegram.com/item/20190204/strange-but-true-ise-in-town-honey|newspaper=]|archive-date=July 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726115910/https://www.telegram.com/item/20190204/strange-but-true-ise-in-town-honey|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References==
Goings, Kenneth. ''Mammy and Uncle Mose: Black Collectibles and American Stereotyping''. 1994. Bloomington: Indiana University Press ISBN 0-253-32592-7


]
Manring, M.M. ''Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima.'' 1998. Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press ISBN 0-8139-1811-1
In 1989, marking the 100th anniversary of the brand, her image was again updated, with all head-covering removed, revealing wavy, gray-streaked hair, gold-trimmed pearl earrings, and replacing her plain white collar with lace. At the time, the revised image was described as a move towards a more "sophisticated" depiction, with Quaker marketing the change as giving her "a more contemporary look" which remained on the products until early 2021.<ref name=ChicTrib-89/><ref name=AP-89/>


===Rebranding of 2020–2021===
== See also ==
On June 17, 2020, Quaker Oats announced that the Aunt Jemima brand would be discontinued and replaced with a new name and image "to make progress toward racial equality".<ref name=nbc_2020-06-17/><ref name=cnn_2020-06-17>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-logo-change/index.html|title=The Aunt Jemima brand, acknowledging its racist past, will be retired|first=Jordan|last=Valinsky|date=June 17, 2020|website=CNN|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211015007/https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-logo-change/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The image was removed from packaging in fall 2020, while the name change was said to be planned for a later date.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aunt Jemima to remove image from packaging and rename brand |url=https://www.today.com/food/aunt-jemima-remove-image-packaging-rename-brand-t184441 |publisher=NBC Universal |website=TODAY.com |first=Samantha |last=Kubota |date=June 17, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217040706/https://www.today.com/food/aunt-jemima-remove-image-packaging-rename-brand-t184441 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=forbes_2020-06-17>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/06/17/aunt-jemima-will-be-replaced-with-new-brand-packaging-says-quaker/?sh=16b704547926|title=Aunt Jemima—Long Denounced As A Racist Caricature—Removed By Quaker Oats|date=June 17, 2020|first=Lisette|last=Voytko|magazine=]|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114151118/https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/06/17/aunt-jemima-will-be-replaced-with-new-brand-packaging-says-quaker/?sh=16b704547926|url-status=live}}</ref>

Within one day of the June 2020 announcement, other similarly motivated rebrandings and reviews of brand marketing were also announced, including for ] rice (which was renamed ]), the ] pancake syrup brand and bottle shape, and the "]" Black chef logo used by ].<ref name=cnn_2021-02-06/>

Days earlier, American satirical news outlet '']'' published a fictional article about a similar announcement.<ref name=Onion_2020>{{Cite web|date=12 June 2020|title=Quaker Oats Replaces Historically Racist Aunt Jemima Mascot With Black Female Lawyer Who Enjoys Pancakes Sometimes|url=https://www.theonion.com/quaker-oats-replaces-historically-racist-aunt-jemima-ma-1844015205|website=]|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210025803/https://www.theonion.com/quaker-oats-replaces-historically-racist-aunt-jemima-ma-1844015205|url-status=live}}</ref>

Descendants of Aunt Jemima models ] and ] objected to the change. Vera Harris, a family historian for Richard's family, said "I wish we would take a breath and not just get rid of everything. Because good or bad, it is our history."<ref>{{cite news|last=Hallmark|first=Bob|title=Family of woman who portrayed Aunt Jemima opposes move to change brand|url=https://www.kltv.com/2020/06/19/webxtra-family-woman-who-portrayed-aunt-jemima-opposes-move-change-brand/|publisher=KLTV|date=June 22, 2020|archive-date=December 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221054854/https://www.kltv.com/2020/06/19/webxtra-family-woman-who-portrayed-aunt-jemima-opposes-move-change-brand/|url-status=live}}</ref> Harris further stated "Erasing my Aunt Lillian Richard would erase a part of history."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Young |first1=Robin |last2=Hagan |first2=Allison |date=29 June 2020 |title=Family Of Woman Who Portrayed Aunt Jemima Speaks Out About Quaker Oats's Rebranding Decision |url=https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/06/29/aunt-jemima-quaker-oats-rebrand |work=WBUR |location=Boston |access-date=29 February 2024 }}</ref> Harrington's great-grandson Larnell Evans said "This is an injustice for me and my family. This is part of my history." Evans had previously lost a ] (and others) for billions of dollars in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|last=Konkol|first=Mark|title=Aunt Jemima's Great-Grandson Enraged Her Legacy Will Be Erased|url=https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/aunt-jemimas-great-grandson-enraged-her-legacy-vanishing|website=The Patch|date=June 18, 2020|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210012941/https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/aunt-jemimas-great-grandson-enraged-her-legacy-vanishing|url-status=live}}</ref>

On February 9, 2021, ] announced that the replacement brand name would be Pearl Milling Company. PepsiCo purchased that brand name for that purpose on February 1, 2021.<ref name=cnn_2021-02-06/> The new branding was launched that June, one year after the company announced they would drop Aunt Jemima branding. PepsiCo referenced the Aunt Jemima brand by ] on the front of the packaging for at least six months after the rebrand. Following that period, PepsiCo said it wouldn't be able to completely permanently abandon the Aunt Jemima brand due to ]; if it does, a third party could obtain and use the brand.<ref name=fortune_2021-02-11/>

==Character of Aunt Jemima==
] sheet music cover]]
Aunt Jemima is based on the common ] ], a plump black woman wearing a headscarf who is a devoted and submissive servant.<ref name=caricature_mammy/><ref name=NYT_2015-06-24/> Her skin is dark and dewy, with a pearly white smile. Although depictions vary over time, they are similar to the common attire and physical features of "mammy" characters throughout American history.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Griffin|first=Johnnie|date=1998|title=Aunt Jemima: Another Image, Another Viewpoint|journal=Journal of Religious Thought|volume=54/55|pages=75–77}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima|first=M. M.|last=Manring|publisher=University of Virginia Press|year=1998|isbn=0-8139-1811-1|page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Kimberly|last=Wallace-Sanders|url=http://southernspaces.org/2009/southern-memory-southern-monuments-and-subversive-black-mammy|title=Southern Memory, Southern Monuments, and the Subversive Black Mammy|work=Southern Spaces|date=June 15, 2009|archive-date=November 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114115344/https://southernspaces.org/2009/southern-memory-southern-monuments-and-subversive-black-mammy/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Atlantic_2012-04-23>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/new-racism-museum-reveals-the-ugly-truth-behind-aunt-jemima/256185/|title=New Racism Museum Reveals the Ugly Truth Behind Aunt Jemima|first=Jennie Rothenberg|last=Gritz|date=2012-04-23|website=The Atlantic|archive-date=January 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130124843/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/new-racism-museum-reveals-the-ugly-truth-behind-aunt-jemima/256185/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=fortune_2014-08-12>{{cite magazine|url=http://fortune.com/2014/08/12/aunt-jemima-racism/|first=Claire|last=Zillman|date=2014-08-12|magazine=Fortune|title=Why it's so hard for Aunt Jemima to ditch her unsavory past|archive-date=December 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213075641/https://fortune.com/2014/08/12/aunt-jemima-racism/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NWHM>{{Cite web|last=Patrick|first=Jeanette|title=Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker: American Cultural Icons that Never Existed|publisher=National Women's History Museum|date=May 11, 2017|url=https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/aunt-jemimar-and-betty-crocker|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210035926/https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/aunt-jemimar-and-betty-crocker|url-status=live}}</ref>

The term "aunt" and "uncle" in this context was a ] form of address used with older enslaved peoples. They were denied use of ], such as "mistress" and "mister".<ref name=Berry_2020>{{Cite web|url=https://andscape.com/features/it-was-past-time-for-aunt-jemimas-image-to-go/|title=It was past time for Aunt Jemima's image to go|date=June 18, 2020|first=Karin D.|last=Berry|work=]|publisher=ESPN|archive-date=December 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231181523/https://theundefeated.com/features/it-was-past-time-for-aunt-jemimas-image-to-go/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=prmuseum>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prmuseum.com/kendrix/trinity.html|title=The Advertiser's Holy Trinity: Aunt Jemima, Rastus, and Uncle Ben|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507013915/http://www.prmuseum.com/kendrix/trinity.html|archive-date=May 7, 2006|work=Moss H. Kendrix: A retrospective|publisher=The Museum of Public Relations}}</ref>

A British image in the Library of Congress, which may have been created as early as 1847, shows a smiling black woman named "Miss Jim-Ima Crow", with a framed image of "]" on the wall behind her.<ref>{{cite web|title=Miss Jim-Ima Crow|website=The Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.07678/|access-date=May 14, 2021}}</ref> A character named "Aunt Jemima" appeared on the stage in Washington, D.C., as early as 1864.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053570/1864-08-11/ed-1/seq-3/|title=Daily national Republican. (Washington, D.C.) 1862–1866, August 11, 1864, Second Edition, Image 3|publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities|date=August 11, 1864|website=Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov|archive-date=August 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817133312/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053570/1864-08-11/ed-1/seq-3/|url-status=live}}</ref> Rutt's inspiration for Aunt Jemima was ]' American-style ]/] song "]", written in 1875. Rutt reportedly saw a minstrel show featuring the "Old Aunt Jemima" song in the fall of 1889, presented by ] performers identified by Arthur F. Marquette as "Baker & Farrell".<ref name=marquette/> Marquette recounts that the actor playing Aunt Jemima wore an ] and ].<ref name=marquette/><ref name=prmuseum/>

However, Doris Witt at ] was unable to confirm Marquette's account.<ref name=BlackHunger>{{cite book|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/31544|title=Black Hunger: Soul Food and America|first=Doris|last=Witt|publisher=]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8166-4551-0|archive-date=September 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930220446/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/31544|url-status=live}}</ref> Witt suggests that Rutt might have witnessed a performance by the vaudeville performer Pete F. Baker, who played characters described in newspapers of that era as "Ludwig" and "Aunt Jemima". His portrayal of the Aunt Jemima character may have been a white male in blackface, pretending to be a German immigrant, imitating a black minstrel parodying an imaginary black female enslaved cook.<ref name=BlackHunger/>

===Advertising===
Marketing materials for the line of products centered around the "Mammy" archetype, including the slogan first used at the 1893 ] in Chicago, Illinois: "I's in Town, Honey".<ref name=caricature_mammy/><ref name=BlackHunger/><ref name=NYT_2020-07-17>{{cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=July 18, 2020|title=Overlooked No More: Nancy Green, the 'Real Aunt Jemima'|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/obituaries/nancy-green-aunt-jemima-overlooked.html|archive-date=January 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129190130/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/obituaries/nancy-green-aunt-jemima-overlooked.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

At that World's Fair, and for decades afterward,<ref name=prmuseum/> marketers created and circulated fictional stories about Aunt Jemima.<ref name=Crocker_1996/> She was presented as a "loyal cook" for a fictional Colonel Higbee's ] plantation on the ].<ref name=Crocker_1996/><ref name=NYT_2020-07-17/><ref name=KWS_1962/><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1k5AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Higbee%27s+Louisiana+plantation%22&pg=PA144-IA1|title=The Poor Little Bride of 1860|magazine=Good Housekeeping|volume=70|publisher=C.W. Bryan & Company|year=1920|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218132120/https://books.google.com/books?id=A1k5AQAAMAAJ&q=Higbee%27s+Louisiana+plantation&pg=PA144-IA1|url-status=live}}</ref> Jemima was said to use a secret recipe "from the South before the Civil War", with their "matchless plantation flavor", to make the best pancakes in ].<ref name=prmuseum/><ref name=KWS_1962/> Another story described her as diverting Union soldiers during the Civil War with her pancakes long enough for Colonel Higbee to escape.<ref name=NYT_2020-07-17/> She was said to have revived a group of shipwrecked survivors with her flapjacks.<ref name=Crocker_1996/>

Beginning in 1894, the company added an Aunt Jemima paper doll family that could be cut out from the pancake box.<ref name=KWS_1962>{{cite book|url=https://www.press.umich.edu/1877302/mammy|title=Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory|first=Kimberly|last=Wallace-Sanders|publisher=University of Michigan Press&nbsp;– Ann Arbor|date=1962|pages=58–72|chapter=Dishing Up Dixie: Recycling the Old South|isbn=978-0-472-11614-0|archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112231019/https://www.press.umich.edu/1877302/mammy|url-status=live}}</ref> Aunt Jemima is joined by her husband, Uncle ] (later renamed Uncle Mose to avoid confusion with the ] character, while Uncle Mose was first introduced as the plantation butler).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dotz|first1=Warren|last2=Morton|first2=Jim|title=What a Character! 20th Century American Advertising Icons|date=1996|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=0-8118-0936-6|page=10}}</ref> Their children, described as "comical pickaninnies": Abraham Lincoln, Dilsie, Zeb, and Dinah. The paper doll family was posed dancing barefoot, dressed in tattered clothing, and the box was labeled "Before the Receipt was sold". (] is an archaic rural form of recipe.)<ref name=KWS_1962/> Buying another box with elegant clothing cut-outs to fit over the dolls, the customer could transform them "After the Receipt was sold". This placed them in the ] rags-to-riches American cultural mythos.<ref name=KWS_1962/>

] versions were offered as a premium in 1909: "Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour / Pica ninny Doll / The Davis Milling Company". Early versions were portrayed as poor people with patches on their trousers, large mouths, and missing teeth. The children's names were changed to Diana and Wade. Over time, there were improvements in appearance. Oil-cloth versions were available circa the 1950s, with cartoonish features, round eyes, and watermelon mouths.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.collectorsjournal.com/columns/aunt-jemima-and-family/article_61307022-3614-11ea-a937-ef75e3057c03.html|title=Aunt Jemima and family!|first=Mary Jane|last=Lamphier|date=Jan 13, 2020|magazine=collectorsjournal.com|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804052926/http://www.collectorsjournal.com/columns/aunt-jemima-and-family/article_61307022-3614-11ea-a937-ef75e3057c03.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A typical magazine ad from the turn of the century created by advertising executive ], and the illustrator ],<ref name=NYT_2020-07-17/> shows a heavyset black cook talking happily while a white man takes notes. The ad copy says, "After the Civil War, after her master's death, Aunt Jemima was finally persuaded to sell her famous pancake recipe to the representative of a northern milling company."<ref name=Crocker_1996/>

However, the Davis Milling Company was not located in a northern state. ] was a hotly contested ]. In reality, she never existed, created by marketers to better sell products.<ref name=NWHM/>

===Controversy===
{{See also|Nadir of American race relations}}
]
Although the Aunt Jemima character was not created until nearly 25 years after the ], the clothing, dancing, enslaved dialect, and singing old plantation songs as she worked, all harkened back to a glorified view of ] Southern plantation life as a "]" narrative.<ref name=NWHM/><ref name=KWS_1962/> The marketing legend surrounding Aunt Jemima's successful commercialization of her "secret recipe" contributes to the post-Civil War nostalgia and romanticism of Southern life in service of America's developing consumer culture—especially in the context of selling kitchen items.<ref name=caricature_mammy/><ref name=NYT_2015-06-24/><ref name=Atlantic_2012-04-23/>

African American women formed the Women's Columbian Association and the Women's Columbian Auxiliary Association to address the exclusion of African Americans from the 1893 ] exhibitions, asking that the fair reflect the success of post-Emancipation African Americans.<ref name=KWS_1962/> Instead, the Fair included a miniature West African village whose natives were portrayed as primitive savages.<ref name=NYT_2020-07-17/> ] was incensed by the exclusion of African Americans from mainstream fair activities; the so-called "Negro Day" was a picnic held off-site from the fairgrounds.<ref name=KWS_1962/>

Black scholars ], ], and ] used the World's Fair as an opportunity to address how African American women were being exploited by white men.<ref name=KWS_1962/><ref>{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=Anna Julia|title=Women's Cause is One and Universal|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1893-anna-julia-cooper-womens-cause-one-and-universal/|website=BlackPast|date=January 28, 2007|quote=Anna Julia Cooper, in May Wright Sewell, ed., ''The World’s Congress of Representative Women'' (Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1894), pp. 711–715.|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129185010/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1893-anna-julia-cooper-womens-cause-one-and-universal/|url-status=live}}</ref> In her book ''A Voice from the South'' (1892), Cooper had noted the fascination with "Southern influence, Southern ideas, and Southern ideals" had "dictated to and domineered over the brain and sinew of this nation".<ref name=KWS_1962/>

These educated progressive women saw "a mammy for the national household" represented at the World's Fair by Aunt Jemima.<ref name=KWS_1962/> This directly relates to the belief that slavery cultivated innate qualities in African Americans. The notion that African Americans were natural servants reinforced a racist ideology renouncing the reality of African American intellect.<ref name=KWS_1962/>

Aunt Jemima embodied a post-Reconstruction fantasy of idealized domesticity, inspired by "happy slave" hospitality, and revealed a deep need to redeem the antebellum South.<ref name=KWS_1962/> There were others that capitalized on this theme, such as ] and ]'s Rastus.<ref name=prmuseum/><ref name=KWS_1962/>

===Slang===
The term "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used colloquially as a female version of the derogatory epithet "]" or "]". In this context, the slang term "Aunt Jemima" falls within the "]" and refers to a friendly black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of ].<ref>
''Cassell's Dictionary of Slang'', Jonathon Green, Cassell, March 1999, {{ISBN|0-304-34435-4}}, p. 36.</ref>

John Sylvester of ] drew criticism after calling ] an "Aunt Jemima" and ] an "Uncle Tom", referring to remarks by singer and civil rights activist ] about their alleged subservience in the ]. He apologized by giving away Aunt Jemima's pancake mix and syrup.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 19, 2004|title=Radio host Calls Rice 'Aunt Jemima'|work=]|agency=]|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6530925|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924003751/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6530925|archive-date=September 24, 2020}}</ref>

Barry Presgraves, then 77-year-old Mayor of ], was ] 5-to-1 by the town council because he referred to ] as "Aunt Jemima" after she was selected by ] to be the ].<ref>{{cite news|last=Jasper|first=Simone|date=August 5, 2020|title=Virginia mayor who said Joe Biden picked Aunt Jemima as VP faces calls to resign|publisher=]|url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article244737457.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218132135/https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article244737457.html|archive-date=February 18, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hood|first=John|date=August 11, 2020|title=Luray mayor apologizes for Facebook post at town council meeting|publisher=]|url=https://www.whsv.com/2020/08/11/luray-mayor-appologizes-for-facebook-post-at-town-council-meeting/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130172755/https://www.whsv.com/2020/08/11/luray-mayor-appologizes-for-facebook-post-at-town-council-meeting/|archive-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Rebecca|date=August 11, 2020|title=Luray Town Council Censures Mayor Over 'Aunt Jemima' Post|newspaper=]|url=https://www.dnronline.com/news/luray-town-council-censures-mayor-over-aunt-jemima-post/article_7dcc0bd1-9259-57c5-8606-5eb89c3f2eed.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927040302/https://www.dnronline.com/news/luray-town-council-censures-mayor-over-aunt-jemima-post/article_7dcc0bd1-9259-57c5-8606-5eb89c3f2eed.html|archive-date=September 27, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Griffith|first=Janelle|date=August 13, 2020|title=Virginia mayor urged to resign after saying Biden picked 'Aunt Jemima as his VP'|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-mayor-urged-resign-after-saying-biden-picked-aunt-jemima-n1236601|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113153823/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-mayor-urged-resign-after-saying-biden-picked-aunt-jemima-n1236601|archive-date=January 13, 2021}}</ref>

==Performers of Aunt Jemima==
The African American Registry of the United States suggests ] and others who played the caricature of Aunt Jemima<ref name=forbes_2020-06-17/> should be celebrated despite what has been widely condemned as a stereotypical and racist brand image. The registry wrote, "We celebrate the birth of Nancy Green in 1834. She was a Black storyteller and one of the first Black corporate models in the United States."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/nancy-green-the-original-aunt-jemima/|title=Nancy Green, the original "Aunt Jemima"|website=aaregistry.org|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127155219/https://aaregistry.org/story/nancy-green-the-original-aunt-jemima/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following Green's work as Aunt Jemima, very few were well-known. Advertising agencies (such as ], ], and others) hired dozens of actors to portray the role, often assigned regionally, as the first organized sales promotion campaign.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=Crocker_1996/>

Quaker Oats ended local appearances for Aunt Jemima in 1965.<ref name=Buckley_2020>{{cite news|url=https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/2020/06/24/aunt-jemima-given-key-albion-1964/3235057001/|title='Aunt Jemima' was given the key to Albion in 1964. The character, based on a stereotype, is being retired|first=Nick|last=Buckley|newspaper=]|date=June 24, 2020}}</ref>

===Nancy Green===
{{Main|Nancy Green}}
Nancy Green was the first spokesperson hired by the R. T. Davis Milling Company for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix.<ref name=history_2007-08-23/> Green was born into slavery in ], Kentucky.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=courier_2020-06-17>{{cite news|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/06/17/aunt-jemima-pancake-mix-logo-based-kentucky-native-nancy-green/3208151001/|title=Aunt Jemima's image pulled from boxes, putting an end to a story that began in Kentucky|first=Lucas|last=Aulbach|date=June 17, 2020|newspaper=]}}</ref> Dressed as Aunt Jemima, Green appeared at the 1893 ] in Chicago, beside the "world's largest flour barrel" (24 feet high), where she operated a pancake-cooking display, sang songs, and told romanticized stories about the Old South (a happy place for blacks and whites alike). She appeared at fairs, festivals, flea markets, food shows, and local grocery stores, her arrival heralded by large billboards featuring the caption, "I'se in town, honey."<ref name=BIA/><ref name=caricature_mammy/><ref name=courier_2020-06-17/>

Green refused to cross the ocean for the ].<ref name=BlackHunger/><ref name=Nagasawa_2020>{{cite news|url=https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-fight-to-preserve-the-legacy-of-nancy-green-the-chicago-woman-who-played-the-original-aunt-jemima/52ed36eb-d4f0-4747-ac65-62b4c4150e9f|title=The Fight To Preserve The Legacy Of Nancy Green, The Chicago Woman Who Played The Original 'Aunt Jemima'|publisher=]|first=Katherine|last=Nagasawa|date=June 19, 2020|archive-date=June 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621224100/https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-fight-to-preserve-the-legacy-of-nancy-green-the-chicago-woman-who-played-the-original-aunt-jemima/52ed36eb-d4f0-4747-ac65-62b4c4150e9f|url-status=live}}</ref> She was replaced by Agnes Moody. Green died in 1923 and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in Chicago's ].<ref name=NYT_2020-07-17/><ref name=Nagasawa_2020/><ref name=Crowther_2020>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-history/finally-a-proper-headstone-for-the-original-aunt-jemima-spokeswoman-nancy-green/|title=Finally, a proper headstone for the original Aunt Jemima spokeswoman, Nancy Green|first=Linnea|last=Crowther|date=June 19, 2020|website=]|archive-date=December 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217224654/https://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-history/finally-a-proper-headstone-for-the-original-aunt-jemima-spokeswoman-nancy-green/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Defender_2020-08-31>{{cite news|url=https://chicagodefender.com/nancy-green-the-original-face-of-aunt-jemima-receives-a-headstone/|title=Nancy Green, the Original face of Aunt Jemima, Receives a Headstone|first=Tammy|last=Gibson|date=August 31, 2020|newspaper=]|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205221313/https://chicagodefender.com/nancy-green-the-original-face-of-aunt-jemima-receives-a-headstone/|url-status=live}}</ref> A headstone was placed on September 5, 2020.<ref name=Crusader_2020-09-15>{{cite news|url=https://chicagocrusader.com/nearly-100-years-later-original-aunt-jemima-gets-a-headstone/|title=Nearly 100 years later, original Aunt Jemima gets a headstone|first=Erick|last=Johnson|date=September 15, 2020|newspaper=]|archive-date=November 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111161747/https://chicagocrusader.com/nearly-100-years-later-original-aunt-jemima-gets-a-headstone/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Agnes Moody===
60-year-old Agnes Moody first performed as Aunt Jemima at the ], and was erroneously reported as the original Aunt Jemima.<ref name=IDR_1900>{{cite news|title='Aunt Jemima' Back: Famous Baker of Hoe Cakes Returns from Her Service in Corn Kitchen of Paris Exposition|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34504432/aunt-jemima-actress-agnes-moodey/|newspaper=Independence Daily Reporter|location=]|date=December 3, 1900|page=4|via=]|archive-date=June 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625202316/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34504432/aunt-jemima-actress-agnes-moodey/|url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name=PG_1903-04-10>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34504499/agnes-moody-aunt-jemima-actress/|title=Agnes Moody, 'Aunt Jemima' actress, dies in Chicago|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Gazette|date=April 10, 1903|page=2}}</ref> She had become well known in the Chicago area for her cornmeal bread and cakes. She died April 9, 1903.<ref name=PG_1903-04-10/>

===Lillian Richard===
{{Main|Lillian Richard}}
]
Lillian Richard was hired to portray Aunt Jemima in 1925, and remained in the role for 23 years. Richard was born in 1891, and grew up in the tiny community of ] 7 miles west of ] in ], Texas. In 1910, she moved to ], working initially as a cook. Her job "pitching pancakes" was based in ], Texas.<ref name=Crocker_1996/> After she suffered a stroke ''circa'' 1947–1948, she returned to Fouke, where she lived until her death in 1956. Richard was honored with a ] in her hometown, dedicated in her name on June 30, 2012.<ref name=TM_2002-10-01>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/texas-history-101-47/|title=Texas History 101: The northeast town of Hawkins remembers one of its small-town girls|first=Stacy|last=Hollister|date=October 2002|magazine=Texas Monthly|archive-date=October 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026045639/https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/texas-history-101-47/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/pancake_capital_of_texas_hawkins_nickname/|title=Pancake Capital of Texas|first=Barry|last=Popik|date=December 8, 2006|archive-date=September 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927071420/https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/pancake_capital_of_texas_hawkins_nickname/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.news-journal.com/news/local/state-planning-to-honor-aunt-jemima-hawkins-with-historical-marker/article_2e915088-e724-5c6d-8b78-0c3336705cc3.html|title=State Planning to Honor 'Aunt Jemima,' Hawkins with Historical Marker|newspaper=]|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=June 29, 2012|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210065215/https://www.news-journal.com/news/local/state-planning-to-honor-aunt-jemima-hawkins-with-historical-marker/article_2e915088-e724-5c6d-8b78-0c3336705cc3.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5507016717/print|title=Details – Lillian Richard – Atlas Number 5507016717 – Atlas: Texas Historical Commission|website=atlas.thc.state.tx.us|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218132153/https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5507016717/print|url-status=live}}</ref>

], Texas, east of ], is known as the "Pancake Capital of Texas" because of longtime resident Lillian Richard. The local chamber of commerce decided to use Hawkins' connection to Aunt Jemima to boost tourism.<ref name=TM_2002-10-01/> In 1995, State Senator David Cain introduced Senate Resolution No. 73 designating Hawkins as the "Pancake Capital of Texas", which was passed into law; the measure was spearheaded by Lillian's niece, Jewell Richard-McCalla.<ref name=Crocker_1996/>

===Artie Belle McGinty===
{{Main|Artie Belle McGinty}}
In 1927, Artie Belle McGinty debuted as the original radio advertisement voice for Aunt Jemima.<ref name="Pittsburgh Press">{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=May 14, 1933 |title=Mandy Lou Takes Spot From Stars |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104793582/mandy-lou-takes-spot-from-stars/ |work=] |access-date=July 1, 2022 |via=]}}</ref>

===Anna Robinson===
]
Anna Robinson was hired to play Aunt Jemima at the 1933 ] Chicago World's Fair.<ref name=history_2007-08-23/><ref name=marquette/> Robinson answered an open audition, and her appearance was more like the "mammy" stereotype than the slender Lillian Richard.<ref name=BlackHunger/> Born circa 1899, she was also from Kentucky and widowed (like Green), but in her 30s with 8 years of education.<ref name=Hansen_2020>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-aunt-jemima-brand-real-women-20200619-5wkt2euhrbcjdokrh5qvu6r7te-story.html|title=The real stories of the Chicago women who portrayed Aunt Jemima|first=John Mark|last=Hansen|newspaper=]|date=June 19, 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622035135/https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-aunt-jemima-brand-real-women-20200619-5wkt2euhrbcjdokrh5qvu6r7te-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> She was sent to New York City by ] to have her picture taken. A 1967 company history commemorated this journey as "the day they loaded 350 pounds of Anna Robinson on the Twentieth Century Limited."<ref name=marquette/>

She appeared at prestigious establishments frequented by the rich and famous, such as ], the ], "]", and the ].<ref name=BIA/><ref name=Hansen_2020/> Photos show Robinson making pancakes for celebrities and stars of ], radio, and motion pictures. They were used in advertising "ranked among the highest read of their time".<ref name=marquette/> The Aunt Jemima ] was redesigned in her likeness.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=BlackHunger/>

Robinson reportedly worked for the company until her death in 1951,<ref name=BIA/><ref name=history_2007-08-23/> although the work was sporadic and for mere weeks in a year.<ref name=Hansen_2020/> Nevertheless, this was not enough to escape the hard life into which she was born.<ref name=Hansen_2020/> Her $1,200 total payment in 1939 ({{Inflation|US|1200|1939|fmt=eq}}) was almost the entirety of the household's annual income.<ref name=Hansen_2020/> The official Aunt Jemima history timeline once stated she was "able to make enough money to provide for her children and buy a 22-room house where she rents rooms to boarders".<ref name=history_2020-06-28>{{Cite web|url=https://www.auntjemima.com/our-history|title=Aunt Jemima: Our History|publisher=Quaker Oats|archive-date=May 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506125241/https://www.auntjemima.com/our-history|url-status=live}}</ref> The same claim was made for ]. According to the 1940 census, she rented an apartment in a four-flat in ] with her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren.<ref name=Hansen_2020/>

===Rosa Washington Riles===
Rosa Washington Riles became the third face on Aunt Jemima packaging in the 1930s, and continued until 1948. Rosa Washington was born in 1901 near ] in ], Ohio, one of several children of Robert and Julie (Holliday) Washington and a granddaughter of George and Phoeba Washington.<ref name=Tucker_2001>{{cite news|title=Rosa Washington Riles – Aunt Jemima born in Brown County|date=January 16, 2001|first=T. J.|last=Tucker|newspaper=Ledger Independent|location=Maysville, Kentucky}}</ref> She was employed as a cook in the home of a Quaker Oats executive and began pancake demonstrations at her employer's request. She died in 1969, and is buried near her parents and grandparents in the historic ] cemetery of ], Ohio.<ref name=Tucker_2001/> An annual Aunt Jemima breakfast has been a long-time fundraiser for the cemetery, and the church maintains a collection of Aunt Jemima memorabilia.<ref name=Berry_2020/><ref name=Tucker_2001/><ref>{{cite news|title=Aunt Jemima Tribute Falls Flat as Pancake|date=September 2, 1991|first=Karin D.|last=Berry|newspaper=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ohioans proud to honor one of own, 'Aunt Jemima'|date=May 4, 2001|first=Brian E.|last=Albrecht|newspaper=The Plain Dealer}}</ref>

===Anna Short Harrington===
{{Main|Anna Short Harrington}}
Anna Short Harrington began her career as Aunt Jemima in 1935 and continued to play the role until 1954. She was born in 1897 in ], South Carolina. The Short family lived on the ] plantation as sharecroppers.<ref name=Sloan_2009>{{cite news|title=Book details history of Wallace's own 'Aunt Jemima'|last=Sloan|first=Bob|date=May 7, 2009|work=The Cheraw Chronicle|url=http://www.thecherawchronicle.com/view/full_story/2516456/article-Book-details-history-of-Wallace-s-own--Aunt-Jemima-|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101053208/http://thecherawchronicle.com/view/full_story/2516456/article-Book-details-history-of-Wallace-s-own--Aunt-Jemima-|archive-date=January 1, 2011|df=mdy}}</ref> In 1927, she moved to ], New York. Quaker Oats discovered her cooking pancakes at the 1935 ].<ref name=Case_2002>{{cite news|title=Book serves up the life of Syracuse's 'Aunt Jemima'|last=Case|first=Dick|date=November 3, 2002|work=]|url=http://syracusethenandnow.org/History/AuntJemima.htm|archive-date=October 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013195036/http://syracusethenandnow.org/History/AuntJemima.htm|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name=Wight_2020>{{cite news|title=The Syracuse resident that portrayed Aunt Jemima, and the racist history of the character|last=Wight|first=Conor|date=June 17, 2020|work=]|publisher=]|url=https://cnycentral.com/station/the-syracuse-resident-that-portrayed-aunt-jemima-and-the-racist-history-of-the-character|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213162746/https://cnycentral.com/station/the-syracuse-resident-that-portrayed-aunt-jemima-and-the-racist-history-of-the-character|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Croyle_2020>{{cite news|title=Exploring Syracuse's tie to the controversial 'Aunt Jemima' brand|last=Croyle|first=Johnathan|date=June 18, 2020|work=syracuse.com|url=https://www.syracuse.com/living/2020/06/exploring-syracuses-ties-to-the-controversial-aunt-jemima-brand.html|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216223529/https://www.syracuse.com/living/2020/06/exploring-syracuses-ties-to-the-controversial-aunt-jemima-brand.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Harrington died in Syracuse in 1955.<ref name=Sloan_2009/><ref name=Case_2002/><ref name=Wight_2020/><ref name=Croyle_2020/>

===Edith Wilson===
{{Main|Edith Wilson (singer)}}
Edith Wilson became the face of Aunt Jemima on radio, television, and in personal appearances, from 1948 to 1966. Wilson was the first Aunt Jemima to appear in television commercials. She was born in 1896 in ], Kentucky. Wilson was a ] singer and actress in Chicago, New York, and London. She appeared on radio in '']'', on radio and television in '']'', and on film in '']'' (1944). On March 31, 1981, she died in Chicago.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=Wilson_obit>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Edith Wilson, Actress and Jazz Vocalist, 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/01/obituaries/edith-wilson-actress-and-jazz-vocalist-84.html|quote=Miss Wilson, who portrayed Aunt Jemima for the Quaker Oats Company for 18 years ...|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 1, 1981|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218132203/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/01/obituaries/edith-wilson-actress-and-jazz-vocalist-84.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Ethel Ernestine Harper===
{{Main|Ethel Ernestine Harper}}
Ethel Ernestine Harper portrayed Aunt Jemima during the 1950s.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=Ingrano_2019/> Harper was born on September 17, 1903, in ], Alabama.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1932-10-01|title=Miss Ethel Harper Assumes Duties of President of City Federation|pages=5|work=The Birmingham Reporter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53095103/miss-ethel-harper-assumes-duties-of/|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=June 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609153504/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53095103/miss-ethel-harper-assumes-duties-of/|url-status=live}}</ref> Prior to the Aunt Jemima role, Harper graduated from college at the age of 17, taught elementary school for 2 years, high school mathematics for 10 years, moved to New York City where she performed in '']'' in 1939 and ''Harlem Cavalcade'' in 1942, then toured Europe during and after ] as one of the Ginger Snaps. On March 31, 1979, she died in ], New Jersey.<ref name=BIA/><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=April 19, 1979|title=Ethel 'Aunt Jemima' Harper Dies at 75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8ADAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Ethel+Ernestine+Harper%22&pg=PA60|magazine=Jet|pages=60|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218132152/https://books.google.com/books?id=M8ADAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Negro+Follies%22+Ethel+Harper&pg=PA60|url-status=live}}</ref> She was the last individual model for the character's logo.<ref name=Ingrano_2019/>

===Rosie Lee Moore Hall===
Rosie Lee Moore Hall portrayed Aunt Jemima from 1950 until her death in 1967. Hall was born on June 22, 1899, in ], Texas. She worked for Quaker Oats in the company's Oklahoma advertising department until she answered their search for a new Aunt Jemima. She suffered a heart attack on her way to church and died on February 12, 1967. She was buried in the family plot in the Colony Cemetery near ], Texas. Hall was the last "living" Aunt Jemima. On May 7, 1988, her grave was declared an historical landmark.<ref name=BIA/><ref name=Crocker_1996/>

===Aylene Lewis===
Aylene Lewis portrayed Aunt Jemima at the ] ], a popular eating place at the park on New Orleans Street in ], from 1957 until her death in 1964. Lewis became well known posing for pictures with visitors and serving pancakes to dignitaries, such as Indian Prime Minister ]. She also developed a close relationship with ].<ref name=BIA/><ref name=marquette/>

==In popular culture==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{trivia|section|date=April 2021}}
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Aunt Jemima has been featured in various formats and settings throughout popular culture. Aunt Jemima has been a present image identifiable by popular culture for well over a century, dating back to Nancy Green's appearance at the ] in Chicago, Illinois.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Waligora-Davis|first=Nicole A.|date=2007|title=Dunbar and the Science of Lynching|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027064|journal=African American Review|volume=41|issue=2|pages=303–311|jstor=40027064|issn=1062-4783}}</ref>

''Aunt Jemima'', a minstrel-type variety radio program, was broadcast January 17, 1929 – June 5, 1953, at times on ] and at other times on the ]. The program had several hiatuses during its time on the air.<ref name="Dunning">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Aunt+Jemima,+minstrel-type+variety%22&pg=PA50 | last=Dunning| first=John| author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author)| title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio| date=1998| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=New York, NY| isbn=978-0-19-507678-3| page=50| edition=Revised| access-date=2019-10-01}}</ref>

The 1933 novel '']'' by ] features an Aunt Jemima-type character, Delilah, a maid struggling in life with her widowed employer, Bea. Their fortunes change dramatically when Bea capitalizes on Delilah's family pancake recipe to open a pancake restaurant that attracts tourists at the ]. It became a great success and was eventually packaged and sold as Aunt Delilah's Pancake Mix. They achieve that success due to selling flour with a smiling Delilah on the box dressed in Aunt Jemima fashion. The ]-nominated 1934 film version of '']'' starring ] and ] retains this part of the plot, which was excised from the 1959 remake of '']'' starring ] and directed by ].

In the 1960s, ] began collecting images of Aunt Jemima, ], ], and other stereotyped African-American figures from folk culture and advertising of the ] era. She incorporated them into collages and assemblages, transforming them into statements of political and social protest.<ref name=Britannica>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Betye-Saar|title=Betye Saar {{!}} American artist and educator|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208063711/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Betye-Saar|url-status=live}}</ref>
The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is one of her most notable works from this era. In this mixed-media assemblage, Saar utilized the stereotypical ] figure of Aunt Jemima to subvert traditional notions of race and gender.<ref name=NPR>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6688207|title=Life Is a Collage for Artist Betye Saar|work=NPR.org|language=en|archive-date=February 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215144521/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6688207|url-status=live}}</ref>

"Aunt Jemima's Kitchen"—named Aunt Jemima's Pancake House when it first started operating in 1955—was a restaurant opened in 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement as the official Aunt Jemima restaurant at Disneyland. In addition to the restaurant, a woman portraying Aunt Jemima was poised at the restaurant to take pictures with its patrons.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McElya|first=Micki|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvjf9z8t|title=Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America|date=2007|publisher=Harvard University Press|jstor=j.ctvjf9z8t|isbn=978-0-674-02433-5}}</ref> Aunt Jemima's Kitchen also had additional locations across the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rosen and Hughes|date=2019|title=Aunt Jemima's Kitchen - 2019 - Question of the Month - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University|url=https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/question/2019/april_may.htm|access-date=2021-03-04|website=ferris.edu}}</ref>

The Aunt Jemima character, portrayed at the time by ], received the ] of ], Michigan, on January 25, 1964.<ref>{{cite web|last=Passic|first=Frank|date=January 7, 2007|title=The Key To The City|url=http://www.albionmich.com/history/histor_notebook/070107.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930160428/http://www.albionmich.com/history/histor_notebook/070107.shtml|archive-date=September 30, 2007|work=Morning Star|publisher=Historic Albion Michigan, Albion History/Genealogy Resources|page=7}}</ref> Actresses portraying Aunt Jemima visited Albion, ] ("Cereal City"), and other Michigan cities many times over three decades. ] had an Aunt Jemima's Kitchen, one of 21 locations, until it was changed to Colonial Kitchen in 1968.<ref name=Buckley_2020/>

] includes a song titled "]" on his 1969 album '']''. Electric Aunt Jemima was the nickname for Zappa's ] guitar amplifier.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lowe|first=Kelly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAYfqgGf4yYC|title=The words and music of Frank Zappa|publisher=Bison Books|year=2007|isbn=9780803260054|location=United Kingdom|pages=68}}</ref>

]'s first quilt story '']'' (1983) depicts the story of Aunt Jemima as a matriarch restaurateur: through mediums of text and imagery used to characterize Aunt Jemima in the public sphere, Ringgold represented the oppressed mammy caricature as an entrepreneur.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Morris|first=Bob|date=2020-06-11|title=Faith Ringgold Will Keep Fighting Back|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/arts/design/faith-ringgold-art.html|access-date=2021-03-04|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

"Burn Hollywood Burn" on ]'s 1990 album '']'' features ] commenting on the updating of racial tropes with the lyrics, "And black women in this profession / As for playin' a lawyer, out of the question / For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term / Even if now she got a perm."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/Public-enemy-burn-hollywood-burn-lyrics|title=Burn Hollywood Burn|website=genius.com/|archive-date=July 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711233521/https://genius.com/Public-enemy-burn-hollywood-burn-lyrics|url-status=live}} (lyrics of a song by the group ])</ref>
]'s 2000 film '']'' features Aunt Jemima (played by Tyheesha Collins) as one of the dancing "pickaninnies" in the film's deliberately racist TV show ''Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show'', alongside other stereotypical black antebellum South characters like ].

The 2004 ] '']'' features numerous depictions of Aunt Jemima-type characters as slaves (referred to as servants) in an ] in which the ] won the ].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

In the '']'' episode "]" (2014), Aunt Jemima appears in ]'s delirious dream to tell him that the ] is upside down.<ref>{{cite serial|title=]|episode=Gluten Free Ebola|series=]|last=Parker|first=Trey|authorlink=Trey Parker|last2=Stone|first2=Matt|authorlink2=Matt Stone|network=]|airdate=September 24 – December 10, 2014}}</ref>

On November 7, 2020, the comedy sketch TV series '']'' featured a skit in which Aunt Jemima was fired, in addition to ], with roles played by "]" and the "]".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Henderson|first=Cydney|date=2020-11-08|title='SNL:' Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson break character during Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's firing|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/11/08/snl-dave-chappelle-pete-davidson-aunt-jemima-uncle-ben/6211467002/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=USA Today|language=en-US}}</ref>

In the 2021 film, ''],'' a police officer disparagingly compares a passing Black woman to Aunt Jemima, in a scene where ] are surrounding the ] Headquarters.<ref>Judas and the Black Messiah </ref>

==See also==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://www.press.umich.edu/1877302/mammy|title=Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory|first=Kimberly|last=Wallace-Sanders|publisher=]&nbsp;– Ann Arbor|date=1962|isbn=9780472116140}}
*{{cite book|title=Brands, Trademarks, and Good Will: The Story of the Quaker Oats Company|first=Arthur F.|last=Marquette|publisher=]|year=1967|asin=B0006BOVBM}}
*{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Kenneth Goings, ], ], 1994, {{ISBN|0-253-32592-7}}
*{{cite journal|last=Manring|first=Maurice M.|title=Aunt Jemima Explained: The Old South, the Absent Mistress, and the Slave in a Box|journal=Southern Cultures|date=1995|volume=2|issue=1|pages=19–44|doi=10.1353/scu.1995.0059|jstor=26235388|s2cid=145517461}}
*, Maurice M. Manring, ], ], 1998, {{ISBN|0-8139-1811-1}}
*, Doris Witt, ebrary, Inc, ], 2004, {{ISBN|0-8166-4551-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8166-4551-0}}


==External links== ==External links==
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*{{Official website|https://www.pearlmillingcompany.com/|Pearl Milling Company official website}} (2021–present)
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*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123213305/https://www.auntjemima.com/ |date=January 23, 2020 |title=Aunt Jemima official website (2020)}}
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Latest revision as of 00:51, 25 December 2024

Brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods This article is about the food products brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima. For the vaudeville performer using the Aunt Jemima stage name, see Tess Gardella. For the brand that replaced Aunt Jemima, see Pearl Milling Company.

Aunt Jemima was an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, table syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889 by the Pearl Milling Company and was advertised as the first "ready-mix" cooking product.

Aunt Jemima was modeled after, and has been a famous example of, the "Mammy" archetype in the Southern United States. Due to the "Mammy" stereotype's historical ties to the Jim Crow era, Quaker Oats announced in June 2020 that the Aunt Jemima brand would be discontinued "to make progress toward racial equality", leading to the Aunt Jemima image being removed by the fourth quarter of 2020.

In June 2021, amidst heightened racial unrest in the United States, the Aunt Jemima brand name was discontinued by its current owner, PepsiCo, with all products rebranded to Pearl Milling Company, the name of the company that produced the original pancake mix product. The Aunt Jemima name remains in use in the brand's tagline, "Same great taste as Aunt Jemima."

Nancy Green portrayed the Aunt Jemima character at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and was one of the first Black corporate models in the United States. Subsequent advertising agencies hired dozens of actresses to perform the role as the first organized sales promotion campaign.

History

Main article: Pearl Milling Company

In 1888, St. Joseph Gazette editor Chris L. Rutt and his friend Charles G. Underwood bought a small flour mill at 214 North 2nd St. in St. Joseph, Missouri. Rutt and Underwood's "Pearl Milling Company" produced a range of milled products (such as wheat flour and cornmeal) using a pearl milling process. Facing a glutted flour market, after a year of experimentation they began selling their excess flour in paper bags with the generic label "Self-Rising Pancake Flour" (later dubbed "the first ready-mix").

Branding and trademark

To distinguish their pancake mix, in late 1889 Rutt appropriated the Aunt Jemima name and image from lithographed posters seen at a vaudeville house in St. Joseph, Missouri. Aunt Jemima was portrayed by Nancy Green, a former slave, of Montgomery County, Kentucky.

In 1915, the well-known Aunt Jemima brand was the basis for a trademark law ruling that set a new precedent. Previously, United States trademark law had protected against infringement by other sellers of the same product, but under the "Aunt Jemima Doctrine", the seller of pancake mix was also protected against infringement by an unrelated seller of a different but related product—pancake syrup. Aunt Jemima became one of the longest continually running logos and trademarks in the history of American advertising.

Logo

1909 ad showing unidentified actor as Aunt Jemima, and rag doll family promotion
1935 Quaker Oats magazine advertisement for Aunt Jemima pancake mix, featuring Anna Robinson as Aunt Jemima

The earliest advertising was based upon a vaudeville parody, and it remained a caricature for many years.

Quaker Oats commissioned Haddon Sundblom, a nationally known commercial artist, to paint a portrait of an obese actress named Anna Robinson, and the Aunt Jemima package was redesigned around the new likeness.

James J. Jaffee, a freelance artist from the Bronx, New York, also designed one of the images of Aunt Jemima used by Quaker Oats to market the product into the mid-20th century.

Just as the formula for the mix changed several times over the years, so did the Aunt Jemima image. In 1968, the face of Aunt Jemima became a composited creation. She was slimmed down from her previous appearance, depicting a more "svelte" look, wearing a white collar and a geometric print "headband" still resembling her previous kerchief.

The logo of the Aunt Jemima brand from 1993 to fall 2020; the wordmark continued to be used by itself until the brand was discontinued in 2021.

In 1989, marking the 100th anniversary of the brand, her image was again updated, with all head-covering removed, revealing wavy, gray-streaked hair, gold-trimmed pearl earrings, and replacing her plain white collar with lace. At the time, the revised image was described as a move towards a more "sophisticated" depiction, with Quaker marketing the change as giving her "a more contemporary look" which remained on the products until early 2021.

Rebranding of 2020–2021

On June 17, 2020, Quaker Oats announced that the Aunt Jemima brand would be discontinued and replaced with a new name and image "to make progress toward racial equality". The image was removed from packaging in fall 2020, while the name change was said to be planned for a later date.

Within one day of the June 2020 announcement, other similarly motivated rebrandings and reviews of brand marketing were also announced, including for Uncle Ben's rice (which was renamed Ben's Original), the Mrs. Butterworth's pancake syrup brand and bottle shape, and the "Rastus" Black chef logo used by Cream of Wheat.

Days earlier, American satirical news outlet The Onion published a fictional article about a similar announcement.

Descendants of Aunt Jemima models Lillian Richard and Anna Short Harrington objected to the change. Vera Harris, a family historian for Richard's family, said "I wish we would take a breath and not just get rid of everything. Because good or bad, it is our history." Harris further stated "Erasing my Aunt Lillian Richard would erase a part of history." Harrington's great-grandson Larnell Evans said "This is an injustice for me and my family. This is part of my history." Evans had previously lost a lawsuit against Quaker Oats (and others) for billions of dollars in 2015.

On February 9, 2021, PepsiCo announced that the replacement brand name would be Pearl Milling Company. PepsiCo purchased that brand name for that purpose on February 1, 2021. The new branding was launched that June, one year after the company announced they would drop Aunt Jemima branding. PepsiCo referenced the Aunt Jemima brand by logotype on the front of the packaging for at least six months after the rebrand. Following that period, PepsiCo said it wouldn't be able to completely permanently abandon the Aunt Jemima brand due to trademark law; if it does, a third party could obtain and use the brand.

Character of Aunt Jemima

"Jemima" character on 1899 cakewalk sheet music cover

Aunt Jemima is based on the common enslaved "Mammy" archetype, a plump black woman wearing a headscarf who is a devoted and submissive servant. Her skin is dark and dewy, with a pearly white smile. Although depictions vary over time, they are similar to the common attire and physical features of "mammy" characters throughout American history.

The term "aunt" and "uncle" in this context was a Southern form of address used with older enslaved peoples. They were denied use of English honorifics, such as "mistress" and "mister".

A British image in the Library of Congress, which may have been created as early as 1847, shows a smiling black woman named "Miss Jim-Ima Crow", with a framed image of "James Crow" on the wall behind her. A character named "Aunt Jemima" appeared on the stage in Washington, D.C., as early as 1864. Rutt's inspiration for Aunt Jemima was Billy Kersands' American-style minstrelsy/vaudeville song "Old Aunt Jemima", written in 1875. Rutt reportedly saw a minstrel show featuring the "Old Aunt Jemima" song in the fall of 1889, presented by blackface performers identified by Arthur F. Marquette as "Baker & Farrell". Marquette recounts that the actor playing Aunt Jemima wore an apron and kerchief.

However, Doris Witt at University of Iowa was unable to confirm Marquette's account. Witt suggests that Rutt might have witnessed a performance by the vaudeville performer Pete F. Baker, who played characters described in newspapers of that era as "Ludwig" and "Aunt Jemima". His portrayal of the Aunt Jemima character may have been a white male in blackface, pretending to be a German immigrant, imitating a black minstrel parodying an imaginary black female enslaved cook.

Advertising

Marketing materials for the line of products centered around the "Mammy" archetype, including the slogan first used at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois: "I's in Town, Honey".

At that World's Fair, and for decades afterward, marketers created and circulated fictional stories about Aunt Jemima. She was presented as a "loyal cook" for a fictional Colonel Higbee's Louisiana plantation on the Mississippi River. Jemima was said to use a secret recipe "from the South before the Civil War", with their "matchless plantation flavor", to make the best pancakes in Dixie. Another story described her as diverting Union soldiers during the Civil War with her pancakes long enough for Colonel Higbee to escape. She was said to have revived a group of shipwrecked survivors with her flapjacks.

Beginning in 1894, the company added an Aunt Jemima paper doll family that could be cut out from the pancake box. Aunt Jemima is joined by her husband, Uncle Rastus (later renamed Uncle Mose to avoid confusion with the Cream of Wheat character, while Uncle Mose was first introduced as the plantation butler). Their children, described as "comical pickaninnies": Abraham Lincoln, Dilsie, Zeb, and Dinah. The paper doll family was posed dancing barefoot, dressed in tattered clothing, and the box was labeled "Before the Receipt was sold". (Receipt is an archaic rural form of recipe.) Buying another box with elegant clothing cut-outs to fit over the dolls, the customer could transform them "After the Receipt was sold". This placed them in the Horatio Alger rags-to-riches American cultural mythos.

Rag doll versions were offered as a premium in 1909: "Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour / Pica ninny Doll / The Davis Milling Company". Early versions were portrayed as poor people with patches on their trousers, large mouths, and missing teeth. The children's names were changed to Diana and Wade. Over time, there were improvements in appearance. Oil-cloth versions were available circa the 1950s, with cartoonish features, round eyes, and watermelon mouths.

A typical magazine ad from the turn of the century created by advertising executive James Webb Young, and the illustrator N.C. Wyeth, shows a heavyset black cook talking happily while a white man takes notes. The ad copy says, "After the Civil War, after her master's death, Aunt Jemima was finally persuaded to sell her famous pancake recipe to the representative of a northern milling company."

However, the Davis Milling Company was not located in a northern state. Missouri in the American Civil War was a hotly contested border state. In reality, she never existed, created by marketers to better sell products.

Controversy

See also: Nadir of American race relations
1920 Saturday Evening Post ad with N.C. Wyeth illustration

Although the Aunt Jemima character was not created until nearly 25 years after the American Civil War, the clothing, dancing, enslaved dialect, and singing old plantation songs as she worked, all harkened back to a glorified view of antebellum Southern plantation life as a "happy slave" narrative. The marketing legend surrounding Aunt Jemima's successful commercialization of her "secret recipe" contributes to the post-Civil War nostalgia and romanticism of Southern life in service of America's developing consumer culture—especially in the context of selling kitchen items.

African American women formed the Women's Columbian Association and the Women's Columbian Auxiliary Association to address the exclusion of African Americans from the 1893 World's Fair exhibitions, asking that the fair reflect the success of post-Emancipation African Americans. Instead, the Fair included a miniature West African village whose natives were portrayed as primitive savages. Ida B. Wells was incensed by the exclusion of African Americans from mainstream fair activities; the so-called "Negro Day" was a picnic held off-site from the fairgrounds.

Black scholars Hallie Quinn Brown, Anna Julia Cooper, and Fannie Barrier Williams used the World's Fair as an opportunity to address how African American women were being exploited by white men. In her book A Voice from the South (1892), Cooper had noted the fascination with "Southern influence, Southern ideas, and Southern ideals" had "dictated to and domineered over the brain and sinew of this nation".

These educated progressive women saw "a mammy for the national household" represented at the World's Fair by Aunt Jemima. This directly relates to the belief that slavery cultivated innate qualities in African Americans. The notion that African Americans were natural servants reinforced a racist ideology renouncing the reality of African American intellect.

Aunt Jemima embodied a post-Reconstruction fantasy of idealized domesticity, inspired by "happy slave" hospitality, and revealed a deep need to redeem the antebellum South. There were others that capitalized on this theme, such as Uncle Ben's Rice and Cream of Wheat's Rastus.

Slang

The term "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used colloquially as a female version of the derogatory epithet "Uncle Tom" or "Rastus". In this context, the slang term "Aunt Jemima" falls within the "mammy archetype" and refers to a friendly black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of whites.

John Sylvester of WTDY-AM drew criticism after calling Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima" and Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom", referring to remarks by singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte about their alleged subservience in the George W. Bush administration. He apologized by giving away Aunt Jemima's pancake mix and syrup.

Barry Presgraves, then 77-year-old Mayor of Luray, Virginia, was censured 5-to-1 by the town council because he referred to Kamala Harris as "Aunt Jemima" after she was selected by Joe Biden to be the Democratic Party vice presidential candidate.

Performers of Aunt Jemima

The African American Registry of the United States suggests Nancy Green and others who played the caricature of Aunt Jemima should be celebrated despite what has been widely condemned as a stereotypical and racist brand image. The registry wrote, "We celebrate the birth of Nancy Green in 1834. She was a Black storyteller and one of the first Black corporate models in the United States."

Following Green's work as Aunt Jemima, very few were well-known. Advertising agencies (such as J. Walter Thompson, Lord and Thomas, and others) hired dozens of actors to portray the role, often assigned regionally, as the first organized sales promotion campaign.

Quaker Oats ended local appearances for Aunt Jemima in 1965.

Nancy Green

Main article: Nancy Green

Nancy Green was the first spokesperson hired by the R. T. Davis Milling Company for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix. Green was born into slavery in Montgomery County, Kentucky. Dressed as Aunt Jemima, Green appeared at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, beside the "world's largest flour barrel" (24 feet high), where she operated a pancake-cooking display, sang songs, and told romanticized stories about the Old South (a happy place for blacks and whites alike). She appeared at fairs, festivals, flea markets, food shows, and local grocery stores, her arrival heralded by large billboards featuring the caption, "I'se in town, honey."

Green refused to cross the ocean for the 1900 Paris exhibition. She was replaced by Agnes Moody. Green died in 1923 and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery. A headstone was placed on September 5, 2020.

Agnes Moody

60-year-old Agnes Moody first performed as Aunt Jemima at the 1900 Paris exhibition, and was erroneously reported as the original Aunt Jemima. She had become well known in the Chicago area for her cornmeal bread and cakes. She died April 9, 1903.

Lillian Richard

Main article: Lillian Richard
Historical marker dedicated to Lillian Richard, Aunt Jemima portrayer

Lillian Richard was hired to portray Aunt Jemima in 1925, and remained in the role for 23 years. Richard was born in 1891, and grew up in the tiny community of Fouke 7 miles west of Hawkins in Wood County, Texas. In 1910, she moved to Dallas, working initially as a cook. Her job "pitching pancakes" was based in Paris, Texas. After she suffered a stroke circa 1947–1948, she returned to Fouke, where she lived until her death in 1956. Richard was honored with a Texas Historical Marker in her hometown, dedicated in her name on June 30, 2012.

Hawkins, Texas, east of Mineola, is known as the "Pancake Capital of Texas" because of longtime resident Lillian Richard. The local chamber of commerce decided to use Hawkins' connection to Aunt Jemima to boost tourism. In 1995, State Senator David Cain introduced Senate Resolution No. 73 designating Hawkins as the "Pancake Capital of Texas", which was passed into law; the measure was spearheaded by Lillian's niece, Jewell Richard-McCalla.

Artie Belle McGinty

Main article: Artie Belle McGinty

In 1927, Artie Belle McGinty debuted as the original radio advertisement voice for Aunt Jemima.

Anna Robinson

Anna Robinson as Aunt Jemima in an advertisement

Anna Robinson was hired to play Aunt Jemima at the 1933 Century of Progress Chicago World's Fair. Robinson answered an open audition, and her appearance was more like the "mammy" stereotype than the slender Lillian Richard. Born circa 1899, she was also from Kentucky and widowed (like Green), but in her 30s with 8 years of education. She was sent to New York City by Lord and Thomas to have her picture taken. A 1967 company history commemorated this journey as "the day they loaded 350 pounds of Anna Robinson on the Twentieth Century Limited."

She appeared at prestigious establishments frequented by the rich and famous, such as El Morocco, the Stork Club, "21", and the Waldorf-Astoria. Photos show Robinson making pancakes for celebrities and stars of Broadway, radio, and motion pictures. They were used in advertising "ranked among the highest read of their time". The Aunt Jemima packaging was redesigned in her likeness.

Robinson reportedly worked for the company until her death in 1951, although the work was sporadic and for mere weeks in a year. Nevertheless, this was not enough to escape the hard life into which she was born. Her $1,200 total payment in 1939 (equivalent to $26,285 in 2023) was almost the entirety of the household's annual income. The official Aunt Jemima history timeline once stated she was "able to make enough money to provide for her children and buy a 22-room house where she rents rooms to boarders". The same claim was made for Anna Short Harrington. According to the 1940 census, she rented an apartment in a four-flat in Washington Park with her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Rosa Washington Riles

Rosa Washington Riles became the third face on Aunt Jemima packaging in the 1930s, and continued until 1948. Rosa Washington was born in 1901 near Red Oak in Brown County, Ohio, one of several children of Robert and Julie (Holliday) Washington and a granddaughter of George and Phoeba Washington. She was employed as a cook in the home of a Quaker Oats executive and began pancake demonstrations at her employer's request. She died in 1969, and is buried near her parents and grandparents in the historic Red Oak Presbyterian Church cemetery of Ripley, Ohio. An annual Aunt Jemima breakfast has been a long-time fundraiser for the cemetery, and the church maintains a collection of Aunt Jemima memorabilia.

Anna Short Harrington

Main article: Anna Short Harrington

Anna Short Harrington began her career as Aunt Jemima in 1935 and continued to play the role until 1954. She was born in 1897 in Marlboro County, South Carolina. The Short family lived on the Pegues Place plantation as sharecroppers. In 1927, she moved to Syracuse, New York. Quaker Oats discovered her cooking pancakes at the 1935 New York State Fair. Harrington died in Syracuse in 1955.

Edith Wilson

Main article: Edith Wilson (singer)

Edith Wilson became the face of Aunt Jemima on radio, television, and in personal appearances, from 1948 to 1966. Wilson was the first Aunt Jemima to appear in television commercials. She was born in 1896 in Louisville, Kentucky. Wilson was a classic blues singer and actress in Chicago, New York, and London. She appeared on radio in The Great Gildersleeve, on radio and television in Amos 'n' Andy, and on film in To Have and Have Not (1944). On March 31, 1981, she died in Chicago.

Ethel Ernestine Harper

Main article: Ethel Ernestine Harper

Ethel Ernestine Harper portrayed Aunt Jemima during the 1950s. Harper was born on September 17, 1903, in Greensboro, Alabama. Prior to the Aunt Jemima role, Harper graduated from college at the age of 17, taught elementary school for 2 years, high school mathematics for 10 years, moved to New York City where she performed in The Hot Mikado in 1939 and Harlem Cavalcade in 1942, then toured Europe during and after World War II as one of the Ginger Snaps. On March 31, 1979, she died in Morristown, New Jersey. She was the last individual model for the character's logo.

Rosie Lee Moore Hall

Rosie Lee Moore Hall portrayed Aunt Jemima from 1950 until her death in 1967. Hall was born on June 22, 1899, in Robertson County, Texas. She worked for Quaker Oats in the company's Oklahoma advertising department until she answered their search for a new Aunt Jemima. She suffered a heart attack on her way to church and died on February 12, 1967. She was buried in the family plot in the Colony Cemetery near Wheelock, Texas. Hall was the last "living" Aunt Jemima. On May 7, 1988, her grave was declared an historical landmark.

Aylene Lewis

Aylene Lewis portrayed Aunt Jemima at the Disneyland Aunt Jemima's Pancake House, a popular eating place at the park on New Orleans Street in Frontierland, from 1957 until her death in 1964. Lewis became well known posing for pictures with visitors and serving pancakes to dignitaries, such as Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She also developed a close relationship with Walt Disney.

In popular culture

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Aunt Jemima has been featured in various formats and settings throughout popular culture. Aunt Jemima has been a present image identifiable by popular culture for well over a century, dating back to Nancy Green's appearance at the 1893 World Fair in Chicago, Illinois.

Aunt Jemima, a minstrel-type variety radio program, was broadcast January 17, 1929 – June 5, 1953, at times on CBS and at other times on the Blue Network. The program had several hiatuses during its time on the air.

The 1933 novel Imitation of Life by Fannie Hurst features an Aunt Jemima-type character, Delilah, a maid struggling in life with her widowed employer, Bea. Their fortunes change dramatically when Bea capitalizes on Delilah's family pancake recipe to open a pancake restaurant that attracts tourists at the Jersey Shore. It became a great success and was eventually packaged and sold as Aunt Delilah's Pancake Mix. They achieve that success due to selling flour with a smiling Delilah on the box dressed in Aunt Jemima fashion. The Academy Award-nominated 1934 film version of Imitation of Life starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers retains this part of the plot, which was excised from the 1959 remake of Imitation of Life starring Lana Turner and directed by Douglas Sirk.

In the 1960s, Betye Saar began collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo, and other stereotyped African-American figures from folk culture and advertising of the Jim Crow era. She incorporated them into collages and assemblages, transforming them into statements of political and social protest. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is one of her most notable works from this era. In this mixed-media assemblage, Saar utilized the stereotypical mammy figure of Aunt Jemima to subvert traditional notions of race and gender.

"Aunt Jemima's Kitchen"—named Aunt Jemima's Pancake House when it first started operating in 1955—was a restaurant opened in 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement as the official Aunt Jemima restaurant at Disneyland. In addition to the restaurant, a woman portraying Aunt Jemima was poised at the restaurant to take pictures with its patrons. Aunt Jemima's Kitchen also had additional locations across the United States.

The Aunt Jemima character, portrayed at the time by Edith Wilson, received the Key to the City of Albion, Michigan, on January 25, 1964. Actresses portraying Aunt Jemima visited Albion, Battle Creek ("Cereal City"), and other Michigan cities many times over three decades. Grand Rapids had an Aunt Jemima's Kitchen, one of 21 locations, until it was changed to Colonial Kitchen in 1968.

Frank Zappa includes a song titled "Electric Aunt Jemima" on his 1969 album Uncle Meat. Electric Aunt Jemima was the nickname for Zappa's Standel guitar amplifier.

Faith Ringgold's first quilt story Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima? (1983) depicts the story of Aunt Jemima as a matriarch restaurateur: through mediums of text and imagery used to characterize Aunt Jemima in the public sphere, Ringgold represented the oppressed mammy caricature as an entrepreneur.

"Burn Hollywood Burn" on Public Enemy's 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet features Big Daddy Kane commenting on the updating of racial tropes with the lyrics, "And black women in this profession / As for playin' a lawyer, out of the question / For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term / Even if now she got a perm." Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled features Aunt Jemima (played by Tyheesha Collins) as one of the dancing "pickaninnies" in the film's deliberately racist TV show Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show, alongside other stereotypical black antebellum South characters like Rastus.

The 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America features numerous depictions of Aunt Jemima-type characters as slaves (referred to as servants) in an alternate timeline in which the Confederacy won the American Civil War.

In the South Park episode "Gluten Free Ebola" (2014), Aunt Jemima appears in Eric Cartman's delirious dream to tell him that the food pyramid is upside down.

On November 7, 2020, the comedy sketch TV series Saturday Night Live featured a skit in which Aunt Jemima was fired, in addition to Uncle Ben, with roles played by "Count Chocula" and the "Allstate Guy".

In the 2021 film, Judas and the Black Messiah, a police officer disparagingly compares a passing Black woman to Aunt Jemima, in a scene where Chicago Police are surrounding the Black Panther Party Headquarters.

See also

References

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