But it says right there on the label that it’s Original Pancake Syrup.
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Too little, and FAR too late.
That’s not how eradicating racial bigotry works; there is no ‘undo’ button, no papering over 130 years worth of exploitation…
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sure, but I wasn’t alive 100 years ago. I can only do something now
I’m not trying to “undo” anything. I am trying to HONOR a woman who did something with her life. I RESPECT Nancy Green. She SHOULD be celebrated.
If I had been alive 100 years ago THAT is what I would have done then as well.
From what I have seen of racists, nothing will change their minds. They will remain the sad little losers they are forever. However, the rest of us must not only shame them very publically, we should also rise UP all those courageous Ladies and Gentlemen who accomplished greatness despite the pettiness of racists.
This is the way to teach children that there are consequences for stupid ideas like racism. Silence is how racism was able to continue for so long. I will never be silent or silenced.
I can’t change the past but I personally can make sure people learn from it.
Weird; I never said nor even implied that the onus for fixing racism is on you, personally.
I merely addressed your suggestion, which isn’t even remotely feasible.
I didn’t bother reading the rest of your comment; just judging from the first sentence, I’m guessing that it’s basically all about yourself and how you feel… and that’s not the topic at hand.
I dream of a day when just once these ‘uncomfortable conversations’ don’t devolve into people of privilege attempting to redirect the focus onto themselves.
Alas, that day is not today, it seems.
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of course, it’s not about “me”.
sometimes all I can do is listen to a friend who is in pain.
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horrifying
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Find someone who got into sourdough, and ask for some starter. Makes MUCH better pancakes.
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is cecilia aware that Nancy Green, the actress, died peniless and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave? and that white capitalists were the only people who profited from a Black woman’s image? And that yes, while Nancy Green should be celebrated, the brand character Aunt Jemima is essentially corporate blackface by a company that profited from and reinforced structural white supremacy?
(and that structural white supremacy is still in place, that Black folk were deliberately stripped and deprived of generational wealth and opportunity by white governments, and on and on it goes.)
Nancy Green deserves better than to be used to prop up white supremacy.
Trump’s right in that Aunt Jemima is the picture of the american dream: the alliance of white supremacy and capitalism exploiting the systemically oppressed, extracting profit for the rich and leaving workers with nothing.
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Well stated points, all.
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this article better expresses my point
“Black mothers are not irrelevant,” said Bronzeville Historical Society President Sherry Williams. “I look at Nancy Green as a Black mother figure, and Black women are the lifelines for generations, both Black and white.”
Through extensive research, Williams learned Green was a philanthropist and ministry leader.
…
Several obituaries, including one Williams found in the Sunday Morning Star , claim it was Green who originally came up with the pancake recipe that would go on to be sold as the Aunt Jemima mix. According to the obit, Green made pancakes for the Walker brothers, who then spread the word of Green’s legendary pancakes among their friends. Eventually, word reached executives at the Aunt Jemima Manufacturing Company, who ultimately hired Green to make pancakes and portray Aunt Jemima at the 1893 World’s Fair.
…
“With media being so totally controlled by white management, those stories about Black lives would have only been in publications like the Chicago Defender ,” Williams said. “Outside of that, there are not many news sources that would have contributed greatly to the narrative of her life and her work.”
Through the Defender obituary, Williams said she learned Green was a philanthropist and ministry leader. She was one of the founding members of Olivet Baptist Church, the oldest active Black Baptist church in Chicago.
You don’t honor people of color by using them to further enrich already wealthy white men. That’s not honoring, that’s exploitation. 
If you are REALLY concerned about that, you wouldn’t care about the fucking marketing department’s feelings, you’d maybe want to support her ancestors or maybe support telling the truth about how she was exploited by her employers. The truth is how you honor people in the past, not turning them into an ad that helps prop up white supremacy.
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Talking about or “celebrating” someone after they’re dead doesn’t fix the problems they faced or rectify any wrongs; it’s merely performative and has no real benefit to the Black community or society at large.
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I don’t give a rat’s behind about the product, the marketing, syrup or any of that.
I only care about telling the TRUE stories about people.
I care about knowing and telling others about these creative people. I care about letting everyone know how they overcame their difficulties
Is this how events actually happen in the world?
Or is this an example of corporate advertising drowning out the historical evidence of somebody’s life?
It could be true. It’s not impossible. But it sure sounds like a story about how the guy who played the clown on the TV commercials also just happened to invent McDonald’s celebrated hamburgers.
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You can do that without putting them on a box to sell product. 
She also lived through Jim Crow, so she was not an entirely free individual for her life. No Black American was. Ignoring that fact because she made some white people feel good isn’t telling an accurate story of her life.
In fact, she continued to work as a maid while the company that used her image did quite well. That’s the common experience of Black Americans exploited like that by white dominated industries. They get a little, while the white men who own the companies reap massive profits.
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you can certainly ask Bronzeville Historical Society President Sherry Williams who did the research on Nancy Green. She’s the expert here, not me.
I’m not sure why you assume I would disagree
Heaven forfend that anyone disturb your beautiful mind with the TRUE STORY ™ that she was exploited.
Her exploitation should never disturb your preferred narrative.
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and not have a fit over syrup
Seems like you think we can’t focus on both Green’s real story if we’re also interested in ending offensive marketing. It’s not an either/or.
The exploitation is a major part of Green’s story, and it’s the same for countless other Black women in a variety of fields.
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