ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the influence of antebellum romanticism on the construction of an early-twentieth-century domestic ideal. It argues that during the 1920s the Aunt Jemima Mills/Quaker Oats Company helped construct a national longing for the Old South and that its copywriters effectively transferred a romantic mythology of plantation fiction into the commercial and marketing arena. The chapter explores the origins of the Aunt Jemima trademark, which was introduced along with the famous pancakes at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. In fact, Aunt Jemima's "promise" was a regression of race relations, since her character helped usher in a resurgence of the "happy slave" mythology of the antebellum South. The Aunt Jemima trademark was also meant to be integral to the budding concept of an American Dream. The text "documents" Aunt Jemima's popularity by assuring readers that her pancake stand needed guards to keep the crowds from blocking the display area.
