Aunt Jemima is best known as a brand of pancake mixes and syrups sold by the Quaker Oats Company since 1889. The image of Aunt Jemima has been controversial for over a hundred years. Based on the pre–Civil War (1861–65) stereotype of the fat, jolly, no-nonsense black "mammy," the character of Aunt Jemima was first introduced in minstrel shows (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) in the late 1800s.

The image of Aunt Jemima as a stereotypical black "mammy," viewed by many as offensive, was used to advertise pancake mixes and syrups for over one hundred years before being made-over in the 1990s. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Quaker Oats is thought to have chosen the image of Aunt Jemima to promote the very first packaged pancake mix because the image of the kind and funny black mammy was comforting and safe to many...