Nancy Green was a storyteller, cook, activist, and one of the first African-American models hired to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima

Aunt Jemima

Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. The Quaker Oats Company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April 1937...

".

Biography

Green was born into slavery in 1834 in Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Kentucky

Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 26,499. Its county seat is Mount Sterling. With regard to the sale of alcohol, it is classified as a moist county—a county in which alcohol sales are prohibited , but containing a "wet" city where package...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. She was hired in 1890 by the R.T. Davis Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri, to represent "Aunt Jemima", an advertising person named after a song from a minstrel show

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....

. Davis Milling had recently acquired the formula to a ready-mixed, self-rising pancake flour from St. Joseph Gazette

St. Joseph Gazette

The St. Joseph Gazette was a newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri from 1845 until June 30, 1988, when its morning position was taken over by its sister paper, the St...

 editor Chris L. Rutt

Chris L. Rutt

Christian Ludwig Rutt was a managing editor for the St. Joseph News-Press who is credited with coming up with the recipe and name for Aunt Jemima pancakes....

 and Charles Underwood and were looking to employ an African-American woman as a Mammy archetype

Mammy archetype

The mammy archetype is perhaps one of the best-known archetypes of African American women. She is often portrayed within a narrative framework or other imagery as a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, very dark skinned, middle aged, and loud...

 to promote their new product. In 1893 Green was introduced as Aunt Jemima at the World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 held in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where it was her job to operate a pancake-cooking display. Her amicable personality and talent as a cook helped establish a successful showing of the product, for which 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 that included thousands of personal appearances and Aunt Jemima merchandising. Nancy Green maintained her job with Davis Milling (which was renamed Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1914) until 1923, when she died.

Philanthropy

Her career allowed Green the financial freedom to become an activist and engage in antipoverty programs.