HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 10-1-11

Aunt Jemima

Little did I know back in December, 1955, that the Aunt Jemima serving up the pancake and sausage dinner was not the original Aunt Jemima. But I had her sign a paper plate and graciously took one of the Aunt Jemima Breakfast Club pins and meticulously filed them away in my scrapbook where they have resided until today.

         

The original company was started by a newspaperman named Chris Rutt and another man named Charles Underwood. They bought the Pearl Milling Company and had the original idea of developing and packaging a ready-mixed, self rising pancake flour. To survive in a highly competitive business, the man needed an image for their product. In 1889, Rutt attended a vaudeville show where he heard a catchy tune called “Aunt Jemima” sung by a blackface performer who was wearing and apron and bandanna headband. He decided to call their pancake flour “Aunt Jemima”.

         

In 1890, they were broke so they sold the formula to the R. T. Davis Milling Company. Mr. Davis began looking for a black woman to employ as a living trademark for his product. He found Nancy Green in Chicago. She was 56 years old. The Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix was introduced in St. Joseph, MO.

         

In 1893, the Davis Milling Company began and all-out promotion of “Aunt Jemima” at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Columbian Exposition was the venue for the debut of consumer products which are so familiar today – including Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Beer, Aunt Jemima syrup and Juicy Fruit gum. Nancy Green, as “Aunt Jemima” demonstrated the pancake mix and served thousands of pancakes. Green was a hit, friendly, a good storyteller, and a good cook. Her warm and appealing personality made her the ideal “Aunt Jemima”, a living trademark. Her exhibition booth drew so many people that special policemen were assigned to keep the crowds moving. The Davis Milling Company received over 50,000 orders, and Fair officials awarded Nancy Green a medal and certificate for her showmanship.

         

She was proclaimed “Pancake Queen”. She was signed to a lifetime contract and traveled on promotional tours all over the country. Flour sales were up all year and pancakes were no longer considered exclusively for breakfast.

        

Nancy Green maintained this job until a car crash in Chicago killed her on September 23, 1923. The company has had other representatives impersonating “Aunt Jemima”, but the original was Nancy Green, a former slave from Montgomery County, Kentucky. She was born on November 17, 1834.

         

An actress, Rosie Hall was the last to portray Aunt Jemima, giving demonstrations at state fairs from 1950-1967. The company is now part of the Quaker Oats family of commercial products.