The Somerset Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held their monthly on February 11 at the Pulaski County Public Library. The winners of the DAR American History
, published this month by Coach House Books.
Thompson, a Ryerson University assistant professor in the School of Creative Industries, specializes in 19th century Black history and visual culture. In Uncle
, she traces the social, cultural and political tendrils of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
, exploring how the figure of Tom morphs from a heroic enslaved man into a trope, an insult and the inspiration for generations of theatrical interpretations, films, radio and TV characters, and even consumer products. Follow Thompson on twitter at @DrCherylT.
Vaudeville was not the only major institution using nostalgia to shape popular notions of race and gender in the late nineteenth century. At the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, American audiences became increasingly obsessed with nostalgia for the antebellum South. Human displays as entertainment enticed late-nineteenth-century white middle-class audiences and continued unti
AP Photo/Donald King
Last year, it was announced by Quaker Oats that they would be removing the name and image of Aunt Jemima from their syrup, engaging in a rebrand after the parent company determined, likely through some crazy focus group, that Aunt Jemima was racist. Well, not that she was racist, but that her image was based on a “racial stereotype” that did not accurately represent the interests of the black community. Now, while Quaker has made some strides in promises of contributions to the black community, I believe that their new rebrand is either completely tone-deaf or more likely a complete screw-up by brand professionals.
East Texas Legends For Black History Month: Lillian Richard
The recent controversy over the Quaker Oats companies choice to remove the image of Aunt Jemina from its products and to change of the name of its brand, was a decision met with mixed results, including here in East Texas.
After over 100 years, Aunt Jemina s image will no longer be seen on its packaging, but one of the women who played Aunt Jemina and put an East Texas town on the map is still to this day considered an East Texas legend.
The story of Lillian Richard is a story we must remember despite your feelings about the brand itself because it contains important context we must examine.