|
The figure of the mammy occupies a central place in the
lore of the Old South and has long been used to ullustrate
distinct social phenomena, including racial oppression and
class identity. In the early twentieth century, the mammy
became immortalized as Aunt Jemima, the spokesperson for a
line of ready-mixed breakfast products. Although Aunt Jemima
has undergone many makeovers over the years, she apparently
has not lost her commercial appeal; her face graces more
than forty food products nationwide and she still resonates
in some form for millions of Americans.
In Slave in a Box, M.M. Manring addresses the
vexing question of why the troubling figure of Aunt Jemima
has endured in American culture. Manring traces the
evolution of the mammy from her roots in the Old South slave
reality and mythology, through reinterpretations during
Reconstruction and in minstrel shows and turn-of-the-century
advertisements, to Aunt Jemima's symbolic role in the Civil
Rights movement and her present incarnation as a "working
grandmother." We learn how advertising entrepreneur James
Webb Young, aided by celebrated illustrator N.C. Wyeth,
skillfully tapped into nostalgic 1920s perceptions of the
South as a culture of white leisure and black labor. Aunt
Jemima's ready-mixed products offered middle-class
housewives the next best thing to a black servant: a "slave
in a box" that conjured up romantic images of not only the
food but also the social hierarchy of the plantation
South.
The initial success of the Aunt Jemima brand, Manring
reveals, was based on a variety of factors, from lingering
attempts to reunite the country after the Civil War to
marketing strategies around World War I. Her continued
appeal in the late twentieth century is a more complex and
disturbing phenomenon we may never fully understand. Manring
suggests that by documenting Aunt Jemima's fascinating
evolution, however, we can learn important lessons about our
collective cultural identity.
|
|
|
"In the white imagination few images are as recognizable
as Aunt Jemima. As a negative stereotype reinforcing both
racism and sexism, Aunt Jemima symbolically valued the
humanity of black women. As M.M. Manring's thoughtful and
well written account makes clear, the racist image of the
black mammy has had a powerful impact upon American culture
and society. Slave in a Box documents the continuing
commodification of racial and gender inequality within white
America."
--Manning Marable, Professor of History, and
Director, Institute for Research in African-American
Studies, Columbia University
|
