I’m gonna assume the folks who don’t understand why this is necessary only know the Aunt Jemima that looks like 227-era Marla Gibbs, which they introduced in like 89. So lemme share the earlier iterations... https://twitter.com/colorcommntwk/status/1273263026926489606
You might *know* it started as mammy branding, but like.. it was REALLY some mammy branding.
This is from the very first one in 1890. The ads are from the ‘30s and ‘40s. And there was always an actual BW playing her for fairs, trade shows and TV spots...

Happyfyin’?!
You might *know* it started as mammy branding, but like.. it was REALLY some mammy branding. This is from the very first one in 1890. The ads are from the ‘30s and ‘40s. And there was always an actual BW playing her for fairs, trade shows and TV spots...Happyfyin’?!
You might *know* it started as mammy branding, but like.. it was REALLY some mammy branding. This is from the very first one in 1890. The ads are from the ‘30s and ‘40s. And there was always an actual BW playing her for fairs, trade shows and TV spots...Happyfyin’?!
You might *know* it started as mammy branding, but like.. it was REALLY some mammy branding. This is from the very first one in 1890. The ads are from the ‘30s and ‘40s. And there was always an actual BW playing her for fairs, trade shows and TV spots...Happyfyin’?!
You might *know* it started as mammy branding, but like.. it was REALLY some mammy branding. This is from the very first one in 1890. The ads are from the ‘30s and ‘40s. And there was always an actual BW playing her for fairs, trade shows and TV spots...Happyfyin’?!
This was the the Aunt Jemima I grew up with. They got rid of the overt mammy-characiture but she still had a headscarf.
This was the the Aunt Jemima I grew up with. They got rid of the overt mammy-characiture but she still had a headscarf.
This was the the Aunt Jemima I grew up with. They got rid of the overt mammy-characiture but she still had a headscarf.
Black consumers started complaining about the imagry in the ‘50s, but Quaker didn’t really budge until ‘89, to mark their 100th bday.
This blog has a great run down of the brand’s history, including the name originally coming from a minstrel tune.
http://zmblackhistorymonth2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/feb-13-aunt-jemima-negative-stereotype.html
Mrs. Buttersworth was lowkey on some mammy sh*t, too, to ME, but ambiguous enough to argue she was supposed to be a kindly white grandmother figure, especially with the “Mrs.”
The reality is, if you closely examine the orgins of American brands, nursery rhymes, coloquialisms, turns-of-phrase... anything that’s been around since the early 1900s or before is gonna have some racist and/or mysogynistic origins, cause that’s what was good in the streets.
It might be horrific NOW, but it was good & cute to them back then - still is to more than will openly admit. The folks who argue “it’s history!” are right in a sense: we need to confront & talk honestly @ how DEEPLY embedded racist and sexist themes are in “American” culture.
Yup. And there’s Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben AND Cream of Wheat products in my kitchen right now. They’ve been such a constant I don’t even consider the branding when I grab them, which is a testament to how normalized offensive iconography and imagry is.
https://twitter.com/timbray/status/1273289475188088832?s=21 https://twitter.com/timbray/status/1273289475188088832
But this is also why when people say folx need to stop being so sensitive about comedy or TV or music, I call bullshit. Blackface was HIGH entertainment once upon a time. Minstrel shows were IT. Accepted social norms are supposed to evolve.
Cream of Wheat’s Rastus is a house ni**a, BTW.
Cream of Wheat’s Rastus is a house ni**a, BTW.
Cream of Wheat’s Rastus is a house ni**a, BTW.
Cream of Wheat’s Rastus is a house ni**a, BTW.
Cream of Wheat’s Rastus is a house ni**a, BTW.
Uncle Ben’s will also undergo an “evolution.” The brand wasn’t introduced until ‘43 & the image is based on real Chicago maitre’d Frank Brown. The NAME is the issue. Company lore says it was from a Black rice farmer in TX known as “Uncle Ben,” but it evokes slave-era stories.
Uncle Ben’s will also undergo an “evolution.” The brand wasn’t introduced until ‘43 & the image is based on real Chicago maitre’d Frank Brown. The NAME is the issue. Company lore says it was from a Black rice farmer in TX known as “Uncle Ben,” but it evokes slave-era stories.
Uncle Ben’s will also undergo an “evolution.” The brand wasn’t introduced until ‘43 & the image is based on real Chicago maitre’d Frank Brown. The NAME is the issue. Company lore says it was from a Black rice farmer in TX known as “Uncle Ben,” but it evokes slave-era stories.
Uncle Ben’s will also undergo an “evolution.” The brand wasn’t introduced until ‘43 & the image is based on real Chicago maitre’d Frank Brown. The NAME is the issue. Company lore says it was from a Black rice farmer in TX known as “Uncle Ben,” but it evokes slave-era stories.
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