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Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. Quaker Oats bought the brand in 1926. Aunt Jemima frozen products were licensed out to Pinnacle Foods Corporation in 1996.
The impetus for Aunt Jemima comes from a minstrelsy/vaudeville song of the same name. Chris L. Rutt of the Pearl Milling Company saw the song being sung by blackface performers Baker & Farrell wearing an apron and kerchief, and appropriated the character.
Aunt Jemima is depicted as a plump, smiling, bright-eyed black woman, originally wearing a kerchief over her hair. Originally, she was represented as a slave and was the most commonplace representation of the stereotypical "mammy" character.
The woman whose likeness was painted for the logo was Anna Short Harrington. Nancy Green, born a slave in Montgomery County, Kentucky, was hired by R.T. Davis Milling Company to play the Jemima character from 1890 to her death in 1924. Green, as Jemima, operated a pancake-cooking display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois during 1893, beside the "world's largest flour barrel". Harriette Widmer also portrayed the character on radio.
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 Cream of Wheat, featuring a cook named "Rastus" (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 "Topsy" 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.
An early advertisement, for example, contained the following copy:
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.
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 pearls. This new look remains with the products to this day.
Use as a pejorative
The phrase "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used as a female version of Uncle Tom to refer to a black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of whites.
The 1950s television show Beulah 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 terms of disparagement.
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
See also
External links
- Quaker Oats Aunt Jemima brand web site
- Pinnacle Foods Aunt Jemima brand web site
- Find-A-Grave profile for Rosa Washington Riles, who portrayed Aunt Jemima
- Rosa Washington Riles
- Radio Talk Show Host Calls Rice an "Aunt Jemima"
- The Women Who Have Portrayed Aunt Jemima