Aunt Jemima - Idealization of Plantation Life

Idealization of Plantation Life

Aunt Jemima embodied an early twentieth century idealized domesticity that was inspired by old southern hospitality. There were others that capitalized on this theme such as: Uncle Ben's Rice and Cream of Wheat’s Rastus. The backdrop to the trademark image of Aunt Jemima is a romanticised view of antebellum plantation life. The myth surrounding Aunt Jemima's secret recipe, family life, and plantation life as a happy slave all contribute to the post civil war idealism of southern life and America's developing consumer culture. Early advertisements used an Aunt Jemima paper doll family as an advertising gimmick to buy the product. Aunt Jemima is represented with her husband Rastus, whose name was later changed to Uncle Mose to avoid confusion with the Cream of Wheat character, and their four children: Abraham Lincoln, Dilsie, Zeb and Dinah. The doll family was dressed in tattered clothing and barefoot with the possibility to see them transform from rags to riches by buying another box with "civilized" clothing cut-outs.