Patricia Spears Jones

a Black woman, no matter the popular myth, is at a loss. Back in the Minstrel Show era, Mammy was easy. Sang lullabies, rolled my eyes, rolled my hips, made Some money. At least I was cleaning no white folks Houses. Then some diner had a cook who made flap jacks, dressed her up as mammy and the white folks Loved it. Loved it. Next thing, mammy mass produced Round face, big teeth, apron and bandana––and jokes about me and Uncle Ben—you know we Did not know each other. But there was I the only Black woman on the supermarket shelves, smiling for a few dollars. Then the people who hated Amos and Andy and other benign stereotypes Decided to hate me. Aunt Jemima. What did I Do but smile, wear that bandana and sell maternal Love for any who bought it. Why mammy figures are in homes across America—white homes, mostly And those Avant Garde Black people Who collect Black Memorabilia—the stuff tossed In the trash by so many, but these Avant Garde People wanted to see how many ways dark skinned people Could be made for commercial use. They. Learned. Outrage. All those watermelons, wood piles, and aprons. The Gold Dust Twins, so named because there was no gold or dust.

The Black Black Memorabilia people helped make Aunt Jemima a research project & mammy history. Thus, Betye Saar put a rifle in Mammy’s hands. Mammy as revolutionary, dug that so much, but was just too much for the business angle. Mammy got a makeover. Image change at Company decreed. Gone bandana, apron and at least 50 pounds, Even the box shrank back to when Black imagery could be made for a nickel and sold for a dime many times, many times.

Hidden in attics & storage units & garages across the South, Mammy dolls sit near Southern Belles & Confederate Colonels And other ancient symbols of the world of Lost Causes.   The Minstrel Shows; the Corporate Icon; the Demised Image. Oh that desire for the power of mammy––that large breasted, Ever-smiling Colored Lady come to console All within the White House, the Whites’ houses. Mammy in the movies. Mammy on tv. Mammy flickers Mammy perches on that precipice of desire and ridicule— Her smile ready to wipe away any negativity Any thought of brand dissonance—the ultimate Myth of Reconciliation, why hate her. Now even Oscar Winning Mammy can’t claim cable. Nodding comprehension for this ungainly insult by the blonde teen, who says “Aunt Jemima was cancelled” How could this be—Aunt Jemima was freed from slavery And worked her way into becoming the face of a pancake mix. Just what every Black woman wants to be, The face of a pancake mix.