Aunt Jemima

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"Jemima" character on 1899 cakewalk sheet music cover

Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. The Quaker Oats Company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April, 1937.[1]

The term "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used colloquially as a female version of the derogatory label "Uncle Tom". 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.[2] 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, the terms "Beulah" and "Aunt Jemima" are regarded as more or less interchangeable as terms of disparagement.[citation needed]

The name "Jemima" is biblical in origin. Jemima is the King James Version's rendering of the feminine Hebrew name יְמִימָה (Yəmīmā), the first of Job's daughters born to him at the end of his namesake book of the Bible.

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[edit] Character

Aunt Jemima was most frequently depicted as a plump, smiling, bright-eyed, African-American woman, originally wearing a kerchief over her hair. She was originally described in marketing materials as a former slave. The original Aunt Jemima image is the most commonplace representation of the stereotypical "mammy" character.

Nancy Green was the first person to portray the Aunt Jemima trademark. Green became a spokesperson for Aunt Jemima products in 1890, although Green was not overweight. Green was followed by a succession of other actresses who played the part of Aunt Jemima, most of who more accurately matched the canonical physical characteristics assigned to the Aunt Jemima character.

In addition to being an advertising icon, the Aunt Jemima character was also commonplace in vaudeville and minstrel shows throughout the late 1800s, and well into the 1900s, independent of an association with the Aunt Jemima brand. For example, comedienne and singer Italian-American Tess Gardella played an "Aunt Jemima" character in vaudeville, film and radio in the early 20th century.[3][4]

The image of Ethel Ernistine Harper served as the basis for most Aunt Jemima print advertising starting in the 1950s. Margaret Shufelt Anderson was the model for the current image, created by J. Frances Chase and released in 1968.

[edit] People associated with the Aunt Jemima trademark

  • Nancy Green (1834–1923) The first Aunt Jemima involved with the Aunt Jemima brand, Nancy Green, was born a slave in 1834. She signed an exclusive contract which gave her the right to portray the character for the rest of her life.[5]
  • Anna Robinson ( ? –1951) In 1933, Robinson became the second Aunt Jemima employed in product advertising, and was featured at the Chicago Century of Progress Exhibition. Robinson's likeness was captured in a painted portrait, an image that changed the product's packaging.[5]
  • Rosa Washington Riles (1901-1969) was born in Red Oak, Ohio. Riles was recruited to travel around the country playing Aunt Jemima, beginning in the mid-1930s.[6][7]
  • Edith Wilson (1896 –1981) Prior to playing the Aunt Jemima character, Wilson was a blues singer and actress in Chicago. She appeared on Amos 'n' Andy and the movie To Have and Have Not. Quaker Oats had Wilson portray Aunt Jemima on radio, television, and in personal appearances from 1948 to 1966 and she was the first Aunt Jemima to appear in television commercials.[5]
  • Harriette Widmer, an Amos 'n' Andy regular, also portrayed the Aunt Jemima character on radio to promote the brand.
  • Ethel Ernestine Harper (1903 - 1979)[8] Harper played the "Aunt Jemima" character during the 1950s. She was also the last live person to represent Aunt Jemima on television before Aunt Jemima television advertising campaigns adopted a composite logo in the 1960s.[9] She worked as a traveling "Aunt Jemima" on behalf of the Quaker Oats company, giving presentations at schools, churches and other organizations. Prior to assuming the role, Harper graduated from college at the age of 17 and worked as a teacher.[5]
  • Rosie Hall (1900–1967) Hall worked for Quaker Oats in the company's advertising department until she discovered their need for a new Aunt Jemima. In 1988 they declared her grave a historical landmark.[5]
  • Aylene Lewis ( ? –1964) Lewis first portrayed Aunt Jemima in 1955 at a restaurant of the same name at Disneyland. As Aunt Jemima, Lewis posed for pictures with visitors along with her co-star, Ruggles the dog. Ruggles appeared extensively alongside Lewis during a large-scale marketing campaign throughout the 1950s.[5]
  • Ann Short Harrington (1900-1955)[5]
  • Margaret Shufelt Anderson was the model for the current image of Aunt Jemima used to market the products.

[edit] History

The direct inspiration for Aunt Jemima was Billy Kersands' minstrelsy/vaudeville song "Old Aunt Jemima", written in 1875. The Aunt Jemima character was prominent in minstrel shows in the late 19th century, and was later adopted by commercial interests to represent the Aunt Jemima brand.

St. Joseph Gazette editor Chris L. Rutt of St. Joseph, Missouri and his friend Charles G. Underwood bought a flour mill in 1888. Rutt and Underwood's Pearl Milling Company faced a glutted flour market, so they sold their excess flour as a ready-made pancake mix in brown paper sacks without a trade name (which Arthur F. Marquette dubbed the "first ready-mix"[10]).[1][11]

Rutt reportedly saw a minstrel show featuring the "Old Aunt Jemima" song in the fall of 1889 presented by blackface performers identified by Marquette as "Baker & Farrell".[10] However, Doris Witt 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 a character described in newspapers of that era as "Aunt Jeremiah". If this is correct, the original inspiration for the Aunt Jemima character was a white male in blackface, who some have described as a German immigrant.[11]

Marquette recounts that the actor playing Aunt Jemima wore an apron and kerchief, and Rutt appropriated this Aunt Jemima character to market the Pearl Milling Company pancake mix in late 1889 after viewing a minstrel show.[10][12] However, Rutt and Underwood were unable to make the project work, so they sold their company to the R.T. Davis Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1890.

Advertisement for buckwheat pancake mix, circa 1932

The R. T. Davis Milling Company hired former slave Nancy Green as a spokesperson for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1890.[1] Nancy Green was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and played the Jemima character from 1890 until her death on September 24, 1923. As Jemima, Green operated a pancake-cooking display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, appearing beside the "world's largest flour barrel." Marketing materials distributed at the fair included the Aunt Jemima marketing slogan, "I'se in Town, Honey".[11]

The Davis Milling Company was renamed Aunt Jemima Mills in 1914.[13] The Quaker Oats Company bought the brand in 1926.[1]

In 1933, Quaker Oats hired Anna Robinson to play Aunt Jemima as part of their promotion at the Chicago's World Fair of 1933. The Quaker Oats company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in 1937.[1]

The Aunt Jemima character received the Key to the City of Albion, Michigan on January 25, 1964. An actress portraying Jemima visited Albion many times for fundraisers.[14]

Quaker Oats introduced Aunt Jemima syrup in 1966. This was followed by Aunt Jemima Butter Lite syrup in 1985 and Butter Rich syrup in 1991.[1]

The Aunt Jemima image has been modified several times over the years. In her most recent 1989 make-over, as she reached her 100th anniversary, the 1968 image was updated, with her kerchief removed to reveal a natural hairdo and pearl earrings. This new look remains with the products to this day.

Aunt Jemima frozen foods were licensed out to Aurora Foods in 1996, which in 2004 was absorbed into Pinnacle Foods Corporation.

[edit] See also

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Aunt Jemima History, Quaker Oats website
  2. ^ Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, Cassell, March 1999, ISBN 0304344354, p. 36.
  3. ^ Gardella was a white actress, who performed the role in blackface.
  4. ^ The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, Anthony Slide, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1994. p. 15–6.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Women Who Have Portrayed Aunt Jemima, Moss Kendrix: A Retrospective, The Museum of Public Relations website, reprinted from Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in advertising, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, Greenwood Press, Connecticut and London, 1994
  6. ^ Honoring an American Icon that Invokes Memories of Enslavement, Judith Sroufe, Freedom Chronicle, Issue 4, Institute for Freedom Studies, Northern Kentucky University, 2004
  7. ^ Aunt Jemima, Original name: Rosie Riles, Find A Grave website
  8. ^ Caskets On Parade ... Book of the Dead ... Obits: "Ha" - "Hd"
  9. ^ The Myth of Aunt Jemima: Representations of Race and Region, Diane Roberts, Routledge, 1994.
  10. ^ a b c Brands, Trademarks, and Good Will: The Story of the Quaker Oats Company, Arthur F. Marquette, McGraw-Hill, 1967
  11. ^ a b c from pages 25-31 of Black Hunger: Soul Food and America, Doris Witt, ebrary, Inc, University of Minnesota Press, 2004, ISBN 0816645515, 9780816645510
  12. ^ The Advertiser's Holy Trinity: Aunt Jemima, Rastus, and Uncle Ben, Moss H. Kendrix: A retrospective, The Museum of Public Relations
  13. ^ A History of Northwest Missouri, edited by Walter Williams, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1915]
  14. ^ The Key To The City, Morning Star, January 7, 2007, pg. 7, Historic Albion Michigan, Albin History/Genealogy Resources, Frank Passic

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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