Aunt Jemima

American  

[ant juh-mahy-muh, ahnt] / ˈænt dʒəˈmaɪ mə, ˈɑnt /

noun

1. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a Black woman considered by other Black people to be subservient to or to curry favor with white people.

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Sensitive Note

The trademarked name and image of Aunt Jemima, as formerly used by the Quaker Oats Company on some of its products, was also the name of a stereotypical African American character in minstrel shows of the late 19th century. The product packaging, originally featuring a fat, smiling Black woman with a kerchief in her hair, was updated over the years to eliminate features associated with disrespectful racial stereotypes. Then, in 2021, the company replaced both the image and product name in a clean break from its controversial brand origin.

Etymology

Origin of Aunt Jemima

First recorded in 1885–90; after the trademarked name of a brand of pancake mixes and associated products, featuring a picture of a Black female cook on the packaging

Example Sentences

Created in the aftermath of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination, Saar’s doll turned the caricature of Black women as domestic servants on its head; arming her with a rifle and a hand grenade, Saar makes Aunt Jemima into a heroine, a protector, a self-emancipating revolutionary.

From New York Times

Saar is known for assemblages, and those are the basis for such prints as 1998’s “National Racism: We Was Mostly ‘Bout Survival,” which superimposes images of an old washboard and a Black laundress who wears a “Liberate Aunt Jemima” button.

From Washington Post

Betye Saar turned domestic items and racial kitsch — a figurine depicting Aunt Jemima, for example — into art that recalled and revised the history of enslavement.

From New York Times

Pancake syrup and mix brand Aunt Jemima in 2021 rebranded as Pearl Milling Company after announcing that it was reckoning with the racist history of its mascot.

From Washington Post

The one at the New Museum, which opens Feb. 17, will reveal how Ringgold intertwined the political and the personal: first in her rigorously composed “American People” paintings, which channeled the civil rights movement into gridded, repeating, syncopated forms; and then in pieced-fabric “story quilts” depicting Michael Jackson or Aunt Jemima, and geometric abstractions inspired by Tibetan silks and embroideries.

From New York Times