Are you a USA born??? Then how could it possible you don’t know about Aunt Jemima’s yummiest pancakes and pancake syrup. Well, you are not going to continue having it….
Maybe you would but certainly with a different image under a different name. So bad!!!! We all have an emotional attachment to it. We all grew up having Aunt Jamima in our breakfast whether we are 5 years old or 130 years old.
But the good thing is intention is not wrong. The one who knows the history behind this product stands at the side of erasing this memory as it is hurting for blacks. It has a history of black racism. Want to know how????
Come with me, I am taking you to the past in Southern wheat fields.
In the late 19th Century in America there was a Minstrel Show. This was a popular entertainment show in those days. Actors there were all white and use black color to play black people.
They didn’t bear a real black in their surroundings at the equal status of Actor. Usually, they depict the black character as mindless, indolent, easily frightened, unceasingly lazy, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky clowns.
In those days American society was obsessed with slaves, especially a female black slave. It was a status symbol. They were in miserable condition. They do the entire household work, in terms of payback, they get hunger, beating, and rape by male masters.
A black singer Billy Kersands wrote a song named “Old Aunt Jemima” in 1875. Lyrics of that song show the wait of a female black slave to be set free but the wait never bore fruit. Lyrics were like
“My old missus promises me . . .
When she died she-d set me free . . .
She lived so long her head got bald . . .
She swore she would not die at all . . .”
Minstrel circuit picked up this song. They performed on it. They portrayed Old Aunt Jemima” as “a Slave Mammy of the Plantation South” who is fat, middle-aged, dark-skinned, undesirable. She is always happy to serve white with a smile on her lips, absolutely against reality.
A man named Chris Rutt was pretty inspired by this character and know very well the psychology of white people, they love to have a black female slaves and they never thought a single time to hide their prejudice against them.
Chris Rutt with Charles Underwood started to sell pancake mix from their flour mill in 1989 under the label of “Aunt Jemima’s pancake mix”. Rutt tried to use the name and image of Aunt Jemima for promotion but failed.
They sold that business to the Davis Milling Company in 1890. The Davis Milling Company used an actual person to represent Aunt Jemima. She was Nancy Green.
Nancy Green was “a born slave” in Kentucky. After 1863 “Emancipation Proclamation” which set slaves free, she moved to Chicago. Her status changed from slave to “domestic servant” there.
She was 56 when her master “Walkers” brought her to the Davis Milling Company to audition for Aunt Jemima. In 1893 she debuted as Aunt Jemima at World’s Exposition in Chicago.
They displayed her on their world’s largest flour barrel. They gave her an Act to dress up as Aunt Jemima “…sang songs, cooked pancakes, and told romanticized stories about the Old South”
She attracted both, whites and blacks equally. She was a huge success. They received over 50,000 orders and she got a medal and certificate for her acting.
Green signed a lifetime contract with them. Till 1910 each year about all the population of a country was being served Aunt Jemima breakfasts. The time came when in 1914 the company retitled itself with ‘The Aunt Jemima Mills Company.’
They advertise pamphlets of Aunt Jemima as a real character with real-life stories. “They weren’t selling pancakes; they were selling The Mammy fantasy. The only ingredient that really mattered was Aunt Jemima”.
In the 1920s and 1930s “Aunt Jemima ads” touched the elevation of their fame. Let us take a look of a chunk from a 1927 ad
“Make them with Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour, and your family will ask where you got your wonderful Southern Cook.”
Between the lines, they said, “Your family will ask where you purchased a Slave Mammy such as this.”
Nancy Green died in 1923. The Quaker Oats Company acquired The Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1926. Then in 1933, after 10 years of Green’s death, they hired Anna Robinson to play Aunt Jemima. She was heavier and darker than Green.
She made pancakes for celebrities on her personal appearances. The sad thing was that she was more famous than those celebrities, not in a personal capacity but as an indication of their slave.
And yes in initial years this celebrity advertisement earned good for the company as people always want to buy which celebrities have, no matter it’s a dress or a slave Mammy.
Come back to present, nationwide protest in the wake of the murder of George Floyd is making history. It is breaking stereotypes. It is changing the course of various racial legacies.
Singer Kirby posted a tik tok video in which she explained how to “make a non-racist breakfast.” She displayed a box of Aunt Jemima mix and told her viewers the brand’s history. While saying “Black lives matter, people…..Even on the breakfast.” She emptied a box into the bin.
Recently parent company PepsiCo announced a $400 million and The Aunt Jemima brand promised at least $5 million within 5 years to revitalization Black communities with increasing Black representation internally and enhancing mandatory training on unconscious bias. “to create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community,”
Vice president of Quaker Foods, Kristin Kroepf admitted Aunt Jemima’s racial stereotype origins. He said his company always tried to make racial equality and to “update” the brand to be “appropriate and respectful” but yes it’s not enough.
This is a milestone and we have to sacrifice our favorite breakfast label for a greater cause. Happy Breakfast!!!!!!!
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