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#BrainFood (formerly #CoolShit) is a daily newsletter personally curated by Shelby Erickson (@shelbyerickson 👋🏻), providing a handpicked selection of fascinating articles from the business, creativity, and technology worlds.
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#CoolShit 06.17.20
Good Wednesday Morning!
So this morning, I originally wasn’t going to share anything with you because I had a long night preparing some assets for the launch of my mystery project but… there is one thing that I want to share. Enjoy!
See you tomorrow!
-Shelby
Aunt Jemima is a brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods owned by the Quaker Oats Company ,a subsidiary of PepsiCo. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889
Who is Aunt Jemima ? Her real name is Nancy Green. Nancy Green was a storyteller, cook, activist, and the first of several African-American models hired to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima. Born November 17, 1834
Died: September 23, 1923
Green was born into slavery on March 4, 1834. She was hired in 1890 by the R.T. Davis Milling Company to represent "Aunt Jemima" an advertising character named after a song from a minstrel show. They were looking to employ an African American woman as a Mammy type to promote.
It was her job to operate a pancake-cooking display. Her amicable personality and talent as a cook for the Walker family, whose children grew up to become Chicago Circuit Judge Charles M. Walker and Dr. Samuel Walker helped establish a successful showing of the product
she received a medal and certificate from the Expo officials.After the Expo, Green was offered a lifetime contract to adopt the Aunt Jemima moniker and promote the pancake mix. This marked the beginning of a major promotional push by the company
Nancy Green maintained her job with Davis Milling (which was renamed Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1914 until her death in 1923; she was still working as Aunt Jemima at the time. A lawsuit claims that Nancy Green's heirs as well as other heirs from the other women used as Aunt
Jemima models deserve $2 billion and a share of future revenue from the sales of popular demand.The federal lawsuit was filed by another model (Anna Short Harrington)'s grandsons who claim that she and Green were the roots in creating the recipe for the nation's first self risin
pancake batter. It also states that Green was the originator and came up with the idea of adding powdered milk for extra flavor in the pancakes. Quaker Oats, who is the current owner of the brand, says this image of Aunt Jemima was in fact fake and never real
claiming that there are no trace of contracts between the women who displayed as Aunt Jemima models and their bosses. The suit was dismissed as the heirs failed to prove that they were related to the woman who posed as Aunt Jemima. So after she died at age 30 none of the deals
That she had with the company and her huge influence on the brand wasn’t acknowledged and her family members did not receive any money from her work. To this day she is the face of the company records of her work were erased and they still use this black womans face to this day
Not sure how much exactly the brand is worth but it is owned by Pepsi and Pepsi is worth an estimated 127 billion🤷🏽♀️ there are a million pancake syrup brands please no longer buy into this company for more information research her this is just a thread some details were left out
And then…
Quaker Oats announced that the image of Aunt Jemima will be removed from all packaging and the brand’s name will be changed. @SheinelleJones reports on the move that comes amid rapid cultural change in the country.
RIP Aunt Jemima
The world is better today then it was yesterday.
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By Shelby Erickson · Launched 5 years ago
#BrainFood (formerly #CoolShit) is a daily newsletter personally curated by Shelby Erickson (@shelbyerickson 👋🏻), providing a handpicked selection of fascinating articles from the business, creativity, and technology worlds.
