Aunt Jemima was a brand of pancake mix, syrup & other breakfast foods owned by the Quaker Oats Company. It was one of the earliest products to be marketed through personal appearances and advertisements. Aunt Jemima was first introduced as a character in a minstrel show – a show that consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performed by white people in blackface for the purpose of playing the roles of black people.
Who is Aunt Jemima? Her real name was NANCY GREEN. A storyteller, cook, activist, and the first of several black models hired by R.T Davis Milling Company to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima. What was the Inspiration behind the name Aunt Jemima? Inspiration for came specifically from the song “Old Aunt Jemima”. It was a staple of the minstrel circuit. The song was based on a song sung by slave hands and performed by men in blackface.
She was depicted as The Mammy. A Black woman whose purpose & life circled around taking care of the white man & his family and almost ALWAYS desexualized and complacent with not being free. It was her job to operate a pancake-cooking display. They put Nancy Green on display and gave her an act. She dressed as Aunt Jemima, sang songs, cooked pancakes & told romanticized stories about the Old South. Eventually she was offered a lifetime contract to promote the brand.
Nancy Green as Aunt Jemima made the brand so successful that in 1914 the company renamed itself ‘The Aunt Jemima Mills Company.’ She remained the face of the brand till her death in 1923. A lawsuit was filed in Chicago by Green’s heirs & descendants of Black women who portrayed Aunt Jemima, claiming they are entitled to ̶s̶e̶e̶k̶ ̶d̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶ a share of an estimated $2 billion fortune and a future share of revenue from product sales.
Sadly and surprisingly Quaker Oats, the company that owns the Aunt Jemima brand, claimed the character was never real. The family also claimed that Nancy Green improved the pancake mix by adding powdered milk to it. However, they could not legally prove any of their claims.