Aunt Jemima

The news over the past few weeks has changed from talk of the Coronavirus to the Black Lives Matters protests.  Tensions have really heated up since the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis policemen.  Parts of Seattle have been taken over by an anti-police group.  In other areas of the country there have been calls to defund the police and statues of Conferderate soldiers destroyed.

Although I support the right of people to protest, I have tried to avoid the news as I have found some of the stories a little too intense for me.  One article, however, did catch my eye.  Due to racial stereotypes Quaker Oats decided to change the name of its Aunt Jemima pancakes.  I understood the thought behind it as it represented the enslaved "Mammy" character of the south.  I also realized that Quaker Oats was a company and had the right to change the name as they saw fit.

Not everyone felt the way that I did and several people took to FaceBook to voice concerns over the decision.  As I read through their argument, I had to laugh.  I realized that they had posted information without fact checking it first.  Contrary to popular opinion the first Aunt Jemima ready made pancake mix was invented by two men in 1889.  The name was chosen from a popular song on vaudeville performed by a singer in black face.  The two businessmen then hired several African American woment to travel the US promoting their new product.  The most popular of these women was Nancy Green.  After the Chicago world's fair in 1893 she became the face of Aunt Jemima pancakes thus becoming the first live spokesperson.  The stories on FaceBook claiming that she sold her secret recipe to General Mills and became the first "black" millinaire were completely false.  The only truth to the claims about the "real" Aunt Jemima was that she was born into slavery in 1834.

I couldn't believe that people were defending racism with a made up story.  More posts followed with talk of "remembering all of the white people that were enslaved as well."  I decided at that point that I would just go back to avoiding the news.  I didn't want to judge others, so I thought it would be best to take a break.  As Uncle Ben's Rice, Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and Eskimo pies were all mentioned as the next brands to go through name changes, I didn't want to read anymore false information or be subjected to additional negativity.  Instead I decided to just enjoy learning how to play the piano.