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“Aunt Jemima” (1889-2021), now known as Pearl Milling Company, is a manufacturer of breakfast products such as pancake mixes and syrups.
In 1888–1889, the Pearl Milling Company developed the original pancake mix, which was marketed as the first ready-mixed food. Since 1926, Quaker Oats (currently PepsiCo) owned the brand.
Aunt Jemima Character
In 1893, Nancy Green played the character Aunt Jemima at the World’s Columbian Exposition, and she was America’s first black corporate model. The character Aunt Jemima was criticized for being an example of Black women being exploited by American culture.
Aunt Jemima is a black woman who works as a servant for whites, as defined in dictionary.com. To put it simply, “aunt” and “uncle” were Southern terms that were commonly used among enslaved men and women. Normally, they weren’t addressed by courtesy titles, for example, “Miss” or “Mister”.
The Aunt Jemima brand was announced to be discontinued by Quaker Oats in June 2020 “to make progress toward racial equality”.
Aunt Jemima Net Worth: Was Aunt Jemima a millionaire?
The exact net worth of Aunt Jemima is not known. Yet, there is a claim going around on Facebook that Nancy Green, who played the character of Aunt Jemima was a millionaire.
“Nancy Green, (aka Aunt Jemima) was born into slavery. She was a magnificent cook. When she was ‘freed’ she rolled her talent into a cooking brand that (General Mills) bought & used her likeness. She died in 1923 as one of America’s first black millionaires,” wrote Patricia Dickson in a Twitter post, which was shared on Facebook.
However, the person who posted the screenshot did not reply to USA TODAY‘s queries.
False Claim
In their report, USA TODAY deems this claim as FALSE that “Nancy Green created Aunt Jemima pancakes and became the first black millionaire in America” since they have no evidence to support the claim. Originally, Aunt Jemima was only performed by Green, and all the profits went to the firm’s owners, R.T Davis.
Rebranding
PepsiCo discontinued the Aunt Jemima brand in June 2021, rebranding the pancake mix products as Pearl Milling Company, the original manufacturer of the mix.
