It’s About Time: ‘Aunt Jemima’ to finally retire its racist mammy image
Article By Patricia Ingram // EEW Magazine Online // Black Issues
The slavery and Jim Crow era gave birth to the mammy caricature—a black, southern, maternal, obese female slave with a big smile who joyfully abandoned her own children to submissively and gratefully serve her white “family.”
The Aunt Jemima brand, established by Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood in 1889, now owned by Pepsi, is getting rid of the old logo and 130-year-old brand name as American corporations make sweeping changes to heed the calls for an end to long-held traditions and practices rooted in racism.
Credit: Wilmington College
"As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers' expectations," the company said in a statement first obtained by NBC News.
The Aunt Jemima brand was inspired by “Old Aunt Jemima,” a song written by black performer, Billy Kersands, in 1875, frequently sung by slave hands. “Old Aunt Jemima” was a staple musical number sung in minstrel shows, variety-style sketches that were popular in the 19th century and featured whites in blackface, portraying black people in mocking and unflattering ways.
The company's website said the logo created in 1890 was based on Nancy Green who was born into slavery, though the corporation only mentions online that she was a "storyteller, cook and missionary worker."
For many years, anti-racism activists and social justice warriors have called for the company to get rid of the logo because it is inextricably tied to southern racism, slavery and Jim Crow.
“Images, symbolism, and the characterization of black women matters,” said Dianna Hobbs, Founder and CEO of EEW Magazine Online. “This is a great beginning, but far more needs to be done to reconcile America’s long, painful legacy of slavery, history of Jim Crow, and subjugation of black women and all black people.”
Pepsi, which bought the Aunt Jemima brand from Quaker Oats in 2001, is promising to donate $5 million dollars over the next five years to "create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community."
A new logo and brand name is expected to debut this fall.
“While black women applaud this rebranding, with all that is happening in America pertaining to rising racial tensions and the unrelenting calls for real, tangible, systemic change to abolish the ugly effects of racism, we hope to see more actions to fight injustice across the board,” Hobbs added.
