Aunt Jemima Brand Acknowledges Racial Stereotype, Will Change Name

The Aunt Jemima food brand is acknowledging that the company’s “origins are based on a racial stereotype.” The company will be instituting a new name and image.

“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a press release to NBC News. “As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations.”

Over the years, the brand has faced criticism that they have “perpetuated a racist stereotype that dated to the days of slavery.”

“It’s an image that harkens back to the antebellum plantation … Aunt Jemima is that kind of stereotype is premised on this idea of Black inferiority and otherness,” Riché Richardson, an associate professor at Cornell University, said. “It is urgent to expunge our public spaces of a lot of these symbols that for some people are triggering and represent terror and abuse.”

Find out more about Hollywood and the Black Lives Matter movement.