During Black History Month in 2023, Montreal-based artist Franck Sylvestre performed a puppet show geared toward Black children. The show included a puppet named “Max” who appeared with coal black skin, jagged teeth, bright red lips, wide eyes, and an ape-like nose.
Read moreContesting the Aunt Jemima Trademark through Feminist Art: Why is She Still Smiling?
In 1989, Quaker Oats Company, in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Aunt Jemima trademark, made extensive alterations to her face and body. Her image was ‘updated by removing her headband and giving her pearl earrings and a lace collar.’ Aunt Jemima, the commodified version of a Southern mammy, has always been a heavy-set, dark-skinned, bandanna-wearing black woman with a broad, teethy smile.
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