Aunt Jemima

English

“Jemima” character on 1899 cakewalk sheet music cover

Etymology

From Aunt Jemima, a stereotypical black mammy used to advertise a popular American pancake mixture brand of the same name. American newspaper managing editor Chris L. Rutt is credited with coming up with the name, inspired by the song “Old Aunt Jemima” (written in 1875) after reportedly seeing a minstrel show featuring it in the fall of 1889. A British image in the Library of Congress, which may have been created as early as 1847, shows a smiling black woman named “Miss Jim-Ima Crow”, with a framed image of “James Crow” on the wall behind her; a character named “Aunt Jemima” appeared on the stage in Washington, D.C., as early as 1864.

Noun

Aunt Jemima (plural Aunt Jemimas)

1. (derogatory, ethnic slur) A black woman who is obsequiously servile to white authority, a black female race traitor.

   Synonyms: Aunt Jane, Aunt Thomasina, coconut, Oreo

Hypernyms

• race traitor