The Last Breakfast with Aunt Jemima

• Author: Deborah R. Gerhardt
• Pages: 46-51

Published in Landslide, Volume 14, Number 2, 2022. © 2022 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion

thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the

American Bar Association.

46

In the spring and summer of 2020, as Americans struggled to make sense of George Floyd’s

murder in front of a crowd in broad daylight, trademark owners began abandoning iconic

but racially charged words and imagery, including “Aunt Jemima,” “Uncle Ben,” and the

“Redskins.” This unprecedented moment in advertising history has much to teach us about

the connections between law and culture.

In the 1950s, James Baldwin wrote, “Before . . . our joy at the demise of Aunt Jemima

and Uncle Tom approaches the indecent, we had better ask whence they sprang, how they

lived?”1 As historian M. M. Manring notes, “The things we see and use every day—and

even more to the point, ignore—tell us much about ourselves.”2 While a white person may

walk past a Confederate monument, pour Aunt Jemima syrup, or attend a “Redskins” game

without thinking they are engaging with racist imagery, members of the depicted communities

experience these symbols differently. For decades, much of America knit these words and

designs into daily life, often not noticing their racial connotations. A closer look at Aunt Jemima

provides an excellent opportunity to broaden one’s perspective and reect on how trademarks

function in contemporary culture.

Image: Getty Images

Published in Landslide, Volume 14, Number 2, 2022. © 2022 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion

thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the

American Bar Association.

46