Cancel culture

[billvon 3,058]

In 1888, two friends started the Pearl Milling Company, a flour mill in Missouri.  They soon faced a flour glut and started selling extra flour as a "self-rising pancake mix" sold in big paper sacks.

In 1889, they added the Aunt Jemima trade name to conflate their product with the "Southern Mammy" stereotype; a vaudeville carciature of an obese Southern slave woman who was happy to be a slave.  (The original image for Aunt Jemima actually came from a Vaudeville poster.)  She was referred to as "Aunt" since honorifics like "Miss" were prohibited for slaves - and later freed slaves.  People were, by comtemporary accounts, amused by the name.

At the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago they hired a former slave, Nancy Green, to play Aunt Jemima at their booth.  She didn't look much like the picture on the product, although they were both black women.

After time went by the image of Aunt Jemima changed.  One change recast the image based on an obese black actress named Anna Robinson.  The next change was based VERY loosely on cook Rosa Washington Riles.  In 1968 a spin made her into a composite of several women.  She was made thinner and more stylish, less cartoonish.

In 1989 it was revamped again, with the scarf removed completely and a plain white collar with lace.  Again this was not based on any specific woman.

In 2020 Quaker Oats (the new owners) decided to change the branding away from the Vaudeville woman to a simpler Pearl Milling Company logo.  When Pepsico bought THEM out, they continued with the change, for several reasons:

1) They thought that sales would increase, which as always was the primary consideration.

2) They wanted to avoid the "happy slave" stereotype which was becoming more problematic.

3) Conservatives were beginning to use "Aunt Jemima" as a racial epithet.  Conservative talk show host John Sylvester had started calling Condoleeza Rice "Aunt Jemima" and Colin Powell "Uncle Ben" - and they didn't want to sell a breakfast product synonymous with a racial slur.  (Later republican mayor Barry Presgraves would call Kamala Harris "Aunt Jemima" during the 2024 presidential campaign.)

This caused an almost unbelievable amount of outrage among conservatives.  Liberals were "cancelling history" and the government was "woke" - and were destroying a beloved icon.  Several memes cast this as a government decision - "I can't believe that changing a pancake box didn't end COVID for Biden!" - and other such memes that conflated it with government action.  What was odd about this is that it was a decision purely based on corporate bean counters and lawyers, who felt they would just plain make more money (and lose less to lawsuits) with the rebrand.

I noticed this recently when the US government actually DID start deleting historical records of black people.  As a single example, Charles C. Rogers was a highly decorated Army officer and the highest ranking black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam war.  During an attack by the North Vietnamese, Rogers was wounded three times but continued directing artillery fire and leading counterattacks until the enemy was repelled.  He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1970 for his extraordinary bravery.  The DoD set up a web page to honor this man and his accomplishments.

It was deleted about two weeks ago in the "DEI purge" under the current administration.  On Facebook, I noted several conservatives defending this, opining that he probably only got the MoH to begin with because he was black, and how glad they were that the real heroes would now be honored.

It is both remarkable and sad that conservatives will vociferously defend depictions of fictional black people that show them as willing servants, but condemn any depictions of actual black people as heroes.  It exemplifies how conservatives want minorities to be seen (and used) in the US.

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Ministry of Truth has arrived

[TriGirl 329]

Jackie Robinson's profile page has had "DEI" added to its address on the DoD historical website.  Incredibly disrespectful.