Aunt Jemima - History

History

The inspiration for Aunt Jemima was Billy Kersands' American-style 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 white paper sacks with a trade name (which Arthur F. Marquette dubbed the "last ready-mix").

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". 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 Jemima". If this is correct, the original inspiration for the Aunt Jemima character was a white male in blackface, whom some have described as a German immigrant.

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. However, Rutt and Underwood were unable to make the project work, so they sold their company to the Randolph Truett Davis Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1890.

The R. T. Davis Milling Company hired former slave Nancy Green as a spokesperson for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1890. Nancy Green was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and played the Jemima character from 1890 until her death on September 23, 1923. As Jemima, Green operated a pancake-cooking display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1893, appearing beside the "world's largest flour barrel." From this point on, marketing materials for the line of products centered around the stereotypical mammy archetype, including the Aunt Jemima marketing slogan first used at the World Fair, "I'se in Town, Honey". Anna Julia Cooper used the World's Columbian Exposition as an opportunity to address how young African American women, were being exploited by white men. She predicted the appeal of Aunt Jemima and the southern domestic ideal and went on to describe the north's fascination with southern traditions as part of America’s “unwritten history”. Progressive African American Women post emancipation, saw Aunt Jemima’s image as a setback that inspired a regression in race relations.

The Davis Milling Company was renamed Aunt Jemima Mills in 1913. The Quaker Oats Company bought the brand in 1926.

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

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.

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.

Just as the formula for the mix has changed several times over the years, so has the Aunt Jemima image been modified several times. 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. The logo much more resembled a modern homemaker than previous designs and carried far fewer racial connotations. 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. Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast is sold in the continental United States where it caters to American tastes.