The Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix will get a new name and image, Quaker Oats announced Wednesday, with the company stating that "Aunt Jemima's origins are based on a racial stereotype."
The 130-year-old brand had a black woman named Auntie Jemima history, who was originally dressed as a misteller character.
The picture has changed over time, and in recent years Quaker removed "Mummy" Kirkiff from the character in order to blunt the growing criticism that the brand maintained a racist stereotype that dates back to the days of slavery. But PepsiCo's subsidiary Quaker said the removal of the image and name is part of the company's "effort to progress towards racial equality".
"We recognize that Auntie Jemima's origins are based on a racial conservatism," Kristin Kroffle, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a press release. " Work for. Our portfolio of brands should also be closely monitored and ensure that they reflect our values and meet the expectations of our consumers. "
Kroffl said the company worked to "appropriately" and respectfully "update" the brand, but felt the changes were inadequate.
Aunt Jemima has recently faced renewed criticism from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody amid protests across the country and around the world.
People on social media called for the brand to continue using the image and discussed its racist history with the topic on Twitter.
In Viral Tickcock, a singer named Kirby discussed the history of the brand in a video titled "How to Make a Non-Racist Breakfast". She concludes the post that has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on the platform, "Black Life Matter, people, even at breakfast."
Aron Jemima, "Riche Richardson, an associate professor at Cornwell University, said Wednesday on the" Today "show," There is a regressive image of Black Womanhood on store shelves. "There is this kind of conservatism that is based on this idea of black inferiority and otherness."
"A lot of these symbols are necessary to evacuate our public spaces, because some people trigger and represent terror and abuse," Richardson said.
In a 2015 piece for The New York Times, Richardson wrote that the inspiration for the brand's name came from a minstrel song, "Old Aunt Jemima", in which black actors mocked black actors and extorted black people.
Logos, Richardson wrote, "neglected the mother ... a devoted and humble servant who eagerly nurtured the children of her white master and mistress."
The company's own product timeline states that Aunt Jemima was first "brought to life" by Nancy Green, a black woman who was previously a slave and became the face of the product in 1890.
In 2015, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the company by two men who claimed to be descendants of Anna Harrington, a black woman portraying Jemima in the 1930s, with the company properly compensating their assets with royalties. Did not.
Quaker said the new packaging will begin appearing in the fall of 2020, and a new name for the food items will be announced later.
The company also announced that it would "donate at least $ 5 million over the next five years" to build meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community.
Dena Ramey Berry, professor of history at The University of Texas, said the decision to leave the name and image of Aunt Jemima is significant because the brand normalized racist depictions of black women.
Aunt Jemima said, "placed the domestic woman as a domestic woman in space," associating them with serving food under a "plantation mentality".
Berry also said that it would be misleading to describe the change by Quakers as a loss of representation for black women.
Criticizing Aunt Jemima's image, she says, "about representation - the stereotypes and the painful and degrading ways in which we are represented."
