I have a vivid memory of the first black woman I saw in an advertisement. It was Aunt Jemina’s face on the box of the pancake mix of Quaker Oats, which was prepared at home during the weekends for my sisters and me. Back in those days, this image was created as The Mammy Caricature for ads, because it had a high impact on reaching white family who had black woman as a housekeeper. According to researchers, the image was created in the slavery period at the end of the century 19th; when black females did domestic work such as cleaning, cooking, and nurturing (Maddock, E. & Connell S., n.d ).
Aunt Jemina’s face is chubby and round, she has a big smile, perfect white teeth; she is not conventionally “pretty”, wears a headscarf, and demonstrated as asexual. This image depicts that she is a happy person as she poses for this advertising. However, this is racism way to represent “happy slaves” from the view of the white masters (Behnken, Brian D., and Gregory D. Smithers, 2015).
The character of Aunt Jemina is one of the many hidden figures of black females in the United States of America. Her face sat on the box in thousands of kitchens for decades, but perhaps, it was ignored by many that this image represented a real individual who was underrepresented and stereotyped by the advertisement. While researching for this article, the first interesting detail I learned was that Aunt Jemina’s name is Nancy Green, a slave from Montgomery, Alabama. She moved to Chicago to work with a white family. A second highlight about Nancy is that the pancake recipe is originally hers. In 1893, she was hired to portray and make pancakes at the World’s Fair by the company (NPR, 2020).
Today as I write and read more about this image, it sadness me to think that this racism image was part of my childhood, along with many other daily issues to which I was naïve. However, today it evolves to deeper thoughts and questioning of the society I live in. This gives the right to continue talking about antiracism at different levels specially from the point of being a black woman.
Fortunately, the discourse of black female image in advertisement is shifting slowly because females are actively denouncing the injustice they face when working for the advertisement industry. Can you remember of any black female rejecting a racism role in advertisement? Share it with us!
I also have good memory of black female images that have had significant impact on me and perhaps for other women. In 2019, while scrolling social media, I came across the image of Alaa Salah. A Sudanese girl standing on top of a car wearing a white dress and gold earrings. Her body language also had a lot to say. Her right hand was firm, pointing out with a finger, this gesture connoting power, strength, and dominion (Social media, e.g., former Twitter).
Alaa Salah, who was 22 years old in 2019, was an architecture student. During that year, she
was one of the many women protesters against President Omar al-Bashir demanding reforms. Women stood at the frontline of the manifestation because the government had imposed strict laws against them. According to media resources this was not the first manifestation; it was one of many in Sudan. At the moment the picture was taken, Alaa was surrounded by other protesters who were filming her. The iconic picture was taken by Lana Haroun and became known as Woman in White which symbolizes liberty and social change for the Sudanese people (The Guardian, 2019; Time Magazine,2019).
Alaa’s image was not for an advertisement like Aunt Jemina’s, but it also depicts a story and legacy for future generation. Both images differ from social context, culture, and identity, but what links them is the character and story behind the image. Even though Aunt Jemina’s image is racism, it’s important to know who she was. She is the inspiration behind the pancakes we eat today, and Alaa symbolizes liberation for Sudanese women.
We need images of black females that are revolutionary, powerful, and inspirational to us to take action. Our bodies are not object, they are our territory.
Images convey much more than words, so it is very important to be conscious when we use them because of the message they transmit to readers and the interpretation they give them.
Women Wheel 
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