For almost 100 years, companies marketed the "Aunt Jemima" ready-made pancake mixes to the general public using the "Mammy" stereotype of black women.

The Mammy stereotype has a long and complex history and is born largely out of a romanticized view of slavery and U.S. apartheid.

When Abolitionists (those who opposed slavery) began to focus their attention on the sexual exploitation of black women by white men, supporters of slavery responded by creating the myth of the "Mammy."

At a time when white culture looked down upon dark skin, thick lips, obesity and kinky hair, Southern slave holders capitalized on these characteristics and the black woman as Mammy became part of American iconography.

Mammy was purposefully imagined as asexual — and not sexually desirable — and was confined to a maternal and care-giving role. She fed and catered to the needs of the white family — and was "happy" serving in that role.

But "house slaves" were not a staple of the antebellum South. Most slave holders could not afford to have enslaved people working both in the home and in the fields. Only after the end of slavery and the disintegration of Reconstruction did black women come to work in the homes of whites in significant numbers. Racism (and sexism) in the Jim Crow South left black women with few employment opportunities. For many, serving as housekeeper, domestic servant or nanny in white homes was the only option.

The brand name "Aunt Jemima" derives from a 19^th-century minstrel song. To build name recognition, the pancake company sponsored a promotional campaign featuring performances by "live Aunt Jemimas" who flipped pancakes and told stories about the "old days." For nearly a century, the Aunt Jemima image fed into long-held misconceptions of slavery and Jim Crow.

In 1989, Quaker Oats — which then owned the pancake mix brand — took the bold step of eliminating the stereotype from its marketing plan. The company replaced the historical Aunt Jemima — the most famous American Mammy — with a pearl-adorned "black housewife" figure.

Quaker Oats' decision demonstrates that we often do have control over the images selected to represent people. Are there contemporary brands of food, clothing and housewares that use demeaning logos? What can you do to encourage companies to stop using them?

Fact Source: Patton, Phil. "Mammy, Her Life and Times," American Heritage (September 1993, Vol. 44, Issue 5.) Pilgrim, David. "The Mammy Caricature," Jim Crow Museum, Ferris State University, www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/News/jimcrow/mammies. Manning, Maurice. Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima (University Press of Virginia, 1998.)
Image Source: Jim Crow Museum, Ferris State University.