Aunt Jemima?
A lot of people are taking sides over this, but I leaning toward Nancy Green's side. Like a lot of kids, I grew up on Jemima's pancakes and syrup and nowhere did I, my family, or anyone else in the neighborhood have or develop any racist feeling over it. In fact, in my neighborhood Jemima and Uncle Ben were two of the very few black people we knew of who weren't entertainers and we respected them. Liked them, too. This was before MLK, btw.
Our attitude as kids, and some parents, too, were that the "Mammy" caricature was not demeaning to the characters but was sympathetic to them, and somewhat heroic.
Nancy Green, the first Jemima, was born into slavery, a condition she had no control over, and managed to make the best of it. Note that she wowed the Chicago Exposition in 1889.
https://blackamericaweb.com/2013/03/28/little-known-black-history-fact-the-history-of-aunt-jemima/
In 1890, a former slave named Nancy Green was hired to be the spokesperson for Aunt Jemima brand food products.
Nancy Green was born into slavery in 1834 in Montgomery County, Kentucky. In 1889 the creators of Aunt Jemima, Charles Rutt and Charles Underwood, sold the company to R.T Davis, who soon found Nancy Green in Chicago. The previous owners had already agreed upon her ‘look’ of a bandana and apron. Davis combined the Aunt Jemima look with a catchy tune from the Vaudeville circuit to make the Aunt Jemima brand.
Green’s identity was first uncovered at the Worlds’ Columbian Exposition in 1893. There were so many people interested in the Aunt Jemima exhibit, police were called for crowd control. Green served pancakes to thousands of people. People loved her warm personality and friendly demeanor, not to mention her cooking. Green was given an award for showmanship at the exposition.
As a result of her dedication, Aunt Jemima received 50,000 orders for pancake mix. Not only did flour sales soar, but Green received a lifetime contract to serve as spokesperson. She was a living legend of the brand until she died in a car accident in September 1923.
More on Nancy Green. There are, in this article, arguments both for and against using the Jemima image today, but here's their take on Green: (Oh, and is understandable if some of the promotional pictures are kinda vile these days)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jemima
Nancy Green was the first spokesperson hired by the R. T. Davis Milling Company for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix.[3] Green was born a slave in Montgomery County, Kentucky.[5][31] Dressed as Aunt Jemima, Green appeared at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, beside the "world's largest flour barrel" (24 feet high), where she operated a pancake-cooking display, sang songs, and told romanticized stories about the Old South (a happy place for blacks and whites alike). She appeared at fairs, festivals, flea markets, food shows, and local grocery stores; her arrival heralded by large billboards featuring the caption, "I'se in town, honey."[5][9][31] She died in 1923, and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And let them know you disagree with their decision to drop plantation tropes to sell pancake syrup ...
